Whenever You Want
by Sapphirefly
Summary: AU VH. Hitomi is working for an escort service during the Christmas holidays, and her client for New Years' Eve turns out to be ...
1. Request for Tomichan

Disclaimer - I don't own Escaflowne. This is just a side project to see if I can write something that's strictly a romance. I won't be opening a forum. I hope you enjoy it though. It was fun to write and it gave my brain a chance to do something different. I don't know the first thing about the escort industry. So, don't take this seriously. It's just for fun!

* * *

**Chapter One**

**Request for Tomi-chan**

Hitomi Kanzaki placed the final double red lines at the end of the last column on her accounting exam. She flipped her test booklet to the front to make sure that her student information was correct and then she gathered her things together. She felt a certain amount of relief as she saw that she was not the first person to finish the exam and not anywhere near the last. It was comfortable for her to finish sometime in the middle. It made her feel like she hadn't rushed and that she hadn't outsmarted herself by examining her answers so carefully that she ended up answering wrong. All the numbers matched, so it had to be good enough. She turned in her exam and then swung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door.

Ah, she was relieved! This test had been an important one. The last one in April – end game. Once she got her (hopefully) good grades back, she'd have her diploma in office assistance and she could quit living her secret life. Not many girls lived a secret life on the side, but if anyone back home heard that she'd been working for an escort service, that would be the end of her freedom. She felt certain that her parents would pitch a fit and she'd be back in her home town pumping gas before she could say one word in her defense.

It hadn't been Hitomi's idea to work for an escort service. Well, it hadn't been her idea in the first place, but when her cousin Merle showed her how much money could be made by just being the shiny little woman on a boring man's arm for one evening … poor little Hitomi had to cave. Her pockets were worn thin and money was something she just did not have enough of.

It was all because of her own stupidity that she was short on cash. She was the one who told her parents that she'd have enough money to leave her small town and move to that faraway big city. So far away that they wouldn't be able to help her if she needed it. It was okay for her to live far away from them. She could take care of everything. She always planned to get a part time job to help support herself, but then she'd been late turning in a form to request a grant and even later with her application for a scholarship. In the end, it didn't seem to matter how many dishes she washed at the local pub, there was barely money to pay the rent as well as her tuition. Feeding herself was becoming a problem too, though Hitomi didn't like to say – she'd already maxed her credit card buying food and her expensive text books.

She often wondered if she should have told Merle about her problems, but Merle was very different from her and the only reason why her parents would let her move to the city. She had to live with responsible Merle who was making a killing at her job … which was? At first Merle wouldn't tell her. She didn't say a word until Hitomi broke down and had to explain that she was fifty dollars short on her half of the rent that month. She'd been killing herself at work for three months by this point and she thought that Merle would understand if she was a little late.

Merle looked at the money and then at Hitomi before she said, "Do you want to make some money at something that doesn't involve being elbow deep in boiling water?"

"But that's my job," Hitomi said.

"It doesn't have to be," Merle said, dropping the bills Hitomi gave her on the table like they were nothing. She clicked over to the refrigerator in her high heels and took out a can of tonic water, which she opened noisily before leaning against the wall of their apartment like she was marketing the stuff. "I could take you to work with me, and you'd earn enough to pay your tuition for next semester in a couple weeks, especially since Christmas is coming up. You see, I'm actually—"

"A hooker?" Hitomi filled in for her.

"_Escort_!" Merle emphasized. "It's not even that bad."

"So you don't sleep with them?"

"My clients? Ew! No," Merle said, looking repulsed. "Not in a million years. But I do go on dates with guys who need a date for something and don't have the time or the inclination to find a date for themselves. Sometimes, it's because they're shy. Sometimes, it's because they want to make a girl who's pissed them off burn with fiery jealousy. Sometimes, it's because they're visiting the city and want someone to show them around with a little more intimacy than a touring bus. Stuff like that." Merle explained a little more before she bluntly asked Hitomi, "Well, do you want to try it?"

"No sex?" Hitomi asked anxiously.

"Zero sex. I promise. I'll give you pepper spray and a pair of brass knuckles. Want to give it a try?"  
"Aren't both of those illegal?"

"Probably," Merle said noncommittally. "I've never been attacked. My agency's really good. That sort of thing just doesn't happen."

"I'll think about it," Hitomi said.

"Do," Merle said. "Do."

So, Hitomi thought about it. There really wasn't much of a choice. She didn't have enough money to pay the tuition for the next semester and it would be due in three weeks. If it was possible for her to earn that money in three weeks then she could quit and go back to washing dishes, but she had to have the money or she'd have to drop out of her program and go back home. That would be too humiliating. But on the other hand, could she really be an escort?

Hitomi kept thinking about Merle and how she compared with her. Merle was shorter than herself when she wasn't wearing her battle gear. When dressed for work, Merle wore ten centimeter heels and her hair was usually fluffed to make herself a solid four centimeters taller. She was tanned and pieced and tattooed in all the right places and Hitomi was simply nothing like her.

Hitomi didn't even have long hair. It was cropped so short that it was almost boyish. She had no figure to speak of. She was pale and … ordinary. Couldn't a guy get a girl like her anywhere?

"Don't you think I'm plain?" Hitomi asked when Merle came to ask her if she'd made up her mind.

"Plain?" Merle asked skeptically. "Plain? What do you mean? If you think you're ugly, think again. Basically, if you give me permission to do whatever it takes to bring you up to snuff, you'll be looking like a fox in under two hours."

"Really?"

Merle snuffed and then answered, "Everything is fake anyway."

"No one is naturally beautiful?"

Merle rolled her eyes and said caustically, "Even Cinderella needed a glass shoe."

"Then I'll do it," Hitomi said, knowing it was her desperate need for money that was doing the talking and nothing else.

"Okay then. You asked for it," Merle said, picking up her car keys and heading for the door.

Merle took Hitomi to her agency where she introduced her to the boss and told her that she thought they could use her for the busy season. No one wanted to be alone around Christmas time, so there was always more than enough work. The woman in charge didn't seem very interested in Hitomi, but assigned her the working name of Tomi and told her she'd work with Merle the first few times just to make sure she was trained properly. Then Merle took her to the back for her makeover.

The first thing Merle did once they were alone was pierce Hitomi's ears. She'd never had it done and it felt like her head was going to explode it hurt so much.

Merle groaned when Hitomi whined. "Look, I'm not going to brand you. It's a miracle you managed to make it to nineteen without having it done anyway. This isn't a big deal."

But it didn't matter what Merle said, Hitomi still felt sore as Merle busily gave her a facial, manicure, pedicure, plucked her eyebrows and did her makeup.

When she finally left Hitomi alone, Hitomi felt sure she'd made the wrong choice. Beauty was too painful for her. She didn't want to be beautiful this much. She even considered bolting … but she did need the money this much. Ugh! She'd endure it.

Merle brought her back a long honey coloured wig and plopped it on her head happily.

All in all, by the time Merle was truly finished with Hitomi she was living a double life. By day, she was mild mannered college student Hitomi Kanzaki and by evening she was Tomi, an extremely beautiful and charming escort who would never be seen past Christmas.

Or so she thought.

Merle was right. Christmas was busy. Hitomi went to six office Christmas parties, three charity auctions, one ball, a dinner party, and a performance of 'The Nut Cracker'. By boxing day, her first day off, she was looking at how much money she'd earned dating _interesting _men, and she was still four hundred dollars short on tuition, not to mention January's rent, and additional expenses. She crunched the notice in her hand and knew exactly what that meant. She would have to work New Year's Eve. And who would be her partner for that evening?

So far, the guys she'd had to date hadn't seemed that bad. Most of them were in their thirties or forties. They didn't have wives and weren't likely to. They had just gotten in the habit of phoning for a date when one of these once-a-year awkward occasions came up. Some were more embarrassed, but she worked hard to make them feel like she saw them as real people instead of just a customer. One of those even phoned and requested her later to attend a family dinner party with him. Merle thought that was great and gave her smiles and cheek pinches to congratulate her on her first return client.

When the end of the night came with one of these men, they'd call a cab for her and put her in it without asking for so much as a hug. More than one of them had even told her that she was much too good a girl to be working as an escort and she'd be better off giving it up.

But now, she hadn't earned enough money and she'd have to work New Year's Eve – terrifying.

Merle's words still haunted her. "New Year's Eve," she said with a wink. "Everyone gets a kiss on New Year's Eve. Don't even think of trying to skip out."

Hitomi gulped. If she worked that night, she'd definitely have to kiss her date!

* * *

Hitomi popped her purple bubblegum and tried to work out some of the tension in her back. Tonight was the dreaded night – New Year's Eve. Rats! Tonight, she was dressed like two billion dollars. Her dress was deep red, the colour of the season, and she was wearing a long black coat with fur trimming Merle that had leant her for the occasion. All her clothes were borrowed from Merle, except for the inserts in her bra – those were a gift. To match with the feeling of the season, Hitomi was wearing long dangling earrings with rhinestones inset in them and a choker to match. The wrap she would wear once the coat was lost was black with deep red blossoms scattered across it in a gorgeous array. Hitomi thought it was prettier than the dress. The wig she wore tonight was sandy blonde instead of the honey coloured one and bangs fell slightly into her eyes.

Tonight she was to meet a Mr. Van Fanel in the lobby of the Grand Mortion Hotel – downtown – uptown – a really good part of town. There was a party there in one of the ballrooms and she was his insurance that he wouldn't be going stag to the biggest party of the year.

She pushed through the revolving doors just before eight o'clock hoping she'd find him quickly. She was supposed to wait by the courtesy phone in the lobby. This part wasn't a big deal. She'd been meeting men like this all along. Even though she hadn't been doing this for very long, she felt like a seasoned professional. The reason sweat was forming in the space between her shoulder blades was that she couldn't stop thinking about the cold fact that she was going to have to kiss her date at the end of the night. Of course Merle was right. Having someone to kiss at the stroke of midnight was the whole purpose of hiring an escort on New Year's Eve. It was socially embarrassing to have no one to kiss. Hitomi just needed to pull herself together. She'd been kissed before. Lots of times … she thought …

She rolled her eyes and looked around her for a place to spit her gum before her date got there. But she was so nervous that she accidentally started to blow another bubble.

"Looking for something?" a deep male voice said coolly.

Hitomi's gum bubble deflated as her eyes met those of one of the most handsome men she ever seen. Hitomi didn't even get a chance to examine him closely when she realized that he was holding a silver dust bin in his hand, poised to catch her gum.

Hitomi reached into her pocket and quickly pulled out a tissue. There was no way this guy was her date, but her date was probably here by now and she didn't want him to see her spit a wad of purple bubble gum directly into a waste bin. She already felt like she'd accidentally tripped while coming out of the trailer in this high class hotel. She rolled her gum up in the Kleenex and dropped it into the bin.

"Thank you," she said, trying to cool her cheeks and manage some sort of composure. Then she moved away and stood closer to the courtesy phone. She leaned against the pillar the phone was bolted to and tried to look for her date.

But the guy with the trash can wasn't leaving. He set the bin down near a chair and then came and leaned against the pillar beside her. "Tell me, was your gum grape or raison flavoured?"

"Those are the same," Hitomi said, still scanning the room and not looking at the man next to her.

He laughed. "Are you waiting for somebody?" he asked, flirting.

"I have a date tonight," she responded.

"Is he handsome?"

"Who?

"Your date," he answered, chuckling.

Hitomi looked around nervously. She had never seen her date. How was she supposed to answer this guy? He was clearly playing with her. If she said her date was gorgeous, she'd be in trouble when the short bald guy rolled in. After scrambling for a moment, she answered, "I like the way he looks."

"Hmm," the brown-eyed stranger said, as he suddenly turned around the corner and put his arm by her shoulder, nearly pinning her. "And you're friendly with him no doubt?"

She nodded and said testily, "That's why you shouldn't be putting the moves on me."

"Van!" someone suddenly called from the other end of the lobby. It was a silver tinkling voice, exactly like the sound of Christmas ornaments banging together.

Hitomi turned her head to see who called her date's first name, when suddenly the stranger in front of her had closed in and was whispering, "Sorry for the late introduction. I'm Van and I'm guessing that you're my date tonight, Tomi? Am I right?"

"Yeah," Hitomi breathed, very much aware of the cologne he was wearing. Breathing that in was a new sensation. What on earth was he wearing? But Hitomi still had the presence of mind to say, "But you're not behaving very well. Do you have to stand that close to me?"

"I need you to help me with a little problem tonight," he said, taking her hand in his and leading her towards the woman who called to him. He held on tightly to her hand and introduced her to a ravishing blonde.

Her name was Celena. It was only necessary to take one look at her to learn that she was clearly eating her heart out for Hitomi's date.

"Don't you ever go out with the same woman twice?" Celena asked poisonously when Van slipped his arm around Hitomi's waist.

Hitomi smiled and looked at him. Yeah, he definitely looked like the heartbreaker type. She was smiling though, because she was happy that he had turned out to be her date. She couldn't help it. So far, none of her dates had been with men that were above an average on an attractive-o-meter. This Van was undoubtedly a ten on any woman's rating chart. At least she wouldn't have to kiss someone at the end of the night that she was not attracted to. So, she was smiling and enjoying the fun of being with a man who was obviously popular. It was a bit of a relief really.

"Don't scare Tomi," Van said to Celena sternly.

"But I know how you like to give your flings the idea that it's not just a fling," she said, looking particularly wounded. "Someone needs to warn the poor girl."

Hitomi smiled and answered before Van had a chance to say what he wanted to. "Thanks for the warning, but I'm too young to settle down. You should just enjoy the moment. Don't you think?" Even Hitomi thought that her cheerfulness and ringing voice was irritating as she said those words, but Merle had told her that part of her job was sometimes to help a man make someone jealous and if that was the case, she'd better handle it properly. However, saying a line like that irked her conscience, even as she said it. She didn't believe that at all. She wanted a steady boyfriend who wouldn't just use her for a fling, but for a long life of deep passionate love. Personally, she didn't want someone who took off once things got a little boring.

Hitomi knew she was successful though when Celena gave her a disgusted look and then she beckoned for someone across the room to join them. "He'll make you sorry, even if you have that attitude," she said crossly as she took the arm of a young man. He was tall and blond and Hitomi might have been mistaken, but she thought that he looked at her for a trifle longer than was necessary.

Hitomi flashed a smile back at him. This was all part of leading her secret life. Smiling sweetly at strangers was all part of being Tomi. Well, she wouldn't have to do it for much longer. This was the last night. After this, she'd have to make up the difference washing dishes in the back of the pub again. Maybe then she could relax because no one would ever find out what she'd been doing.

Van led her over to the coat check and politely helped her remove her coat. "That was an interesting speech," he said as he offered her an arm and led her down the stairs to the ballroom.

"Is she your ex-girlfriend?" Hitomi asked, trying to get a grasp on the situation. Maybe he would tell her.

"Not exactly. More like a hopeful girlfriend," he explained.

Man alive! He had excellent posture. Hitomi pushed her shoulders back and tried to walk with half as much dignity as him. Having to match a guy like this was challenging to match, but she'd have to do her best. "And this is your way of letting her down easy?" Hitomi asked.

"Sort of," Van agreed, turning his dark eyes towards her.

"Did you have a fling with her?"

Van looked annoyed, but even when he looked disturbed, he still looked fantastic. With features like that, he couldn't look like anything else. Even his arm was solid, and Hitomi was having a hard time not asking him if he worked out. He answered her before she had the chance.

"I don't think that's any of your business. I said I need you to help me with something tonight and here's what it is. Last year, at the New Year's party, I had some … unpleasantness at midnight. You're going to keep me out of trouble. So just be a good girl and take care of me. All right?"

Hitomi smiled and promised that she'd do a good job.

* * *

All in all, the evening was more fun than she thought it was going to be. She danced with Van most of the time, and when he was called away by someone else, she danced with one of his friends. He had nice friends. They were good looking, young, successful, and knew how to keep their hands in the right places without wandering while dancing with her. The food was excellent and Van was a good date. He was clearly popular both in his profession and with his friends, because he introduced her to at least fifty people, if not more. He had a good sense of fun and knew how to dance. By the end of the night, she had thought more than once that it was a pity that this was just for her job; otherwise, she would have loved to find herself in a more long-term relationship with him. He told her about his interests in a way that none of her other dates had bothered to. It was almost like he wasn't sure how to date an escort and so he was dating her in the same way he would date her if he was really interested in her.

At around eleven thirty, he gave up leaving her even for a moment. He took hold of her hand tightly while they danced and turned people down if they tried to cut in.

"What happened last year that has made you so nervous about midnight?" she asked while pressed close to him in the dance.

He rolled his eyes. "I'd rather not talk about it. It was … unpleasant."

"You keep using that word!"

"Yeah, well, it was. Fine, I'll tell you. I ended up getting passed down a long line of women and it was … unpleasant," he said, looking like he still needed to wash his mouth out.

"I thought most guys would like that," she laughed.

"Are you kidding? It was so quick that I didn't even get a chance to recognize all of them. No, it wasn't fun."

"Yeah, I know it was … unpleasant. And this year, I'm supposed to protect you from it?"

"Well, don't tell me you don't think I look great in my dinner jacket, so …" he paused. Then he leaned in and put his forehead against Hitomi's and looked into her eyes. "Please take care of me."

Hitomi wasn't sure, but she thought that knowing she was going to get to kiss him at midnight was making this even more exciting. She looked at the giant clock at the end of the hall. Sometimes it seemed to be moving faster and sometimes it seemed to be moving slower. In a minute the countdown would start.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

"Seven!"

Van turned Hitomi towards him and put his arms around her waist. She was looking into his eyes. She couldn't even hear the noise of the crowd filling the ballroom. There was just her and him.

And then their kiss.

The room was stifling, and so his lips were hot as he pressed them down on hers. Hitomi had told herself over and over again that she had been kissed plenty of times, and so this wasn't a big deal, but kissing Van was different. She had never felt her blood like it was scorching though her veins. It was like she was being kissed by someone who really knew how to kiss, by someone who really meant business, and by someone who was not going to let up. It wasn't the kiss of a passing stranger who just wanted to avoid being passed around. Instead, it seemed like the kiss of someone who wanted something badly, but was not allowed to have it. Hitomi broke away and took a quick breath. He pulled her back roughly. Her brain was shutting down, but she had one more thought before she completely shut down. She thought that to him, she must seem like the type of woman who wasn't attainable. Since it was this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he wouldn't stop.

And she didn't really want him to.

At some point, Hitomi somehow became aware that the singing had stopped and that the band had stopped playing. Hitomi put her hand to Van's face and pulled off. Then she looked into his eyes and asked him like it was all part of the act.

"Did I do a good job guarding your honour?" she asked with a wicked smile.

His expression went blank, like he just realized what was going on. Maybe, his expression was disappointment, because he just remembered that she really wasn't attainable.

"Of course," he said, professionally. "You did a great job. Do you want something to drink?"

She nodded and he strode towards the bar.

Hitomi went back to their table and sat down. Why did she have to ruin everything by reminding him that she was only an escort? They could have enjoyed the fantasy for another couple of hours, couldn't they?

Van returned and gave her a soda water – the only thing she had been drinking all night. He sat down next to her, his expression black when suddenly he was grabbed from behind and given a kiss on the mouth by a woman. It wasn't Celena, but someone else. Hitomi put a hand to her forehead and wanted to groan. There was no way she could have protected him from that.

The woman winked at Hitomi afterwards and said, "It's just not New Year's without kissing Van!"

Van didn't smile, and Hitomi was worried that he might get after her. Instead he ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward to ask pleasantly. "Could I please have a piece of your grape bubblegum?"

Hitomi smiled.

"I gotta get that taste out of my mouth, and I already used your token kiss for the evening. Please?"

She clicked open her purse and pulled out a piece of the gum. She unwrapped it for him and popped it into his mouth.

"It's too bad this is just for tonight," she said, "because if it was just you and I with no strings attached … I know I'd fall for you." She reflected later that she never could have said those words if she didn't have the cover of her identity as Tomi. Because she was her, she was able to say something that daring.

"I'll bet you say that to everyone," he said, before biting down hard on the gum.

She smiled. "Didn't you enjoy hearing it?"

Then he pulled her to her feet and made her dance with him some more.

* * *

Author's Notes: Yup - strictly for fun. It hasn't been beta read. It's just an experiement to see if I can write a romance or not. But I can't stand tough, domineering, powerful - type guys in romances. So, Van is going to be more healthful in this one. Hope you guys aren't miffed that I didn't use the word 'dark' to describe him at least ten times. Cheers!

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	2. Two Requests?

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. I'm just using this as an excuse to advertise for my original fiction (lol).

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**Chapter Two**

**Two Requests?**

After New Year's Eve, Hitomi went back to washing dishes in the back of her pub for the month of January and tried not to think about what she could be missing working as an escort. After all, not every date she had gone on had been like the last one with Van Fanel. Yup! She didn't think about what Van's kiss was like or how he held her while they danced. She didn't think about his eyes or the way his hair fell into them. Nope! Not one bit!

And best of all, she didn't think about the money she was missing out on while she worked her _honest_ minimum wage job. At least, not until her January pay cheque came in. When she saw the numbers and did the accounting in her head, she computed just one fact – she was SCREWED!

Merle was reading a magazine in her recliner when Hitomi came into their apartment after getting her pay stub. Merle instantly flipped the glossy cover shut and took her headphones out of her ears in order to ask Hitomi, "So, how was work? Did you get paid?"

"I got paid," Hitomi sulked.

"Not enough?" Merle enquired as she put her arms behind her head and stretched her body out. "You already owe me six hundred and twenty bucks and that's on top of February's rent. Do you think you're going to be able to make good? I'd hate to have to call Auntie and ask her to make up the difference for you. I can't pay for this place by myself."

"Yes, you can!" Hitomi countered noisily. Merle made tons of money. She was just trying to bully Hitomi into going back to the escort service. "You could easily pay for this place by yourself."

"Ah," Merle said. She sounded bored. "I suppose that's true, but I can't think of a good reason why I should have to pay for your housing when I have such good plans for my hard earned money."

"I could pay you back!" Hitomi claimed.

"When?"

"After graduation—"

"Whatever," Merle said, interrupting. "I'm not telling you what to do. You can get the money to pay me however you want and I guess whenever you want. I'm not actually cruel enough to call your parents and insist that they pay me. That would be petty. I just wanted to tell you that Valentine's Day is coming up and there has been a request for you through the agency."

"Really?

"Yeah. Request for Tomi! Do you feel like doing it?"

"How much an hour for the job?" Hitomi asked. Not all jobs paid the same. She had made thirty dollars an hour during the Christmas holidays, except for New Year's and Christmas Eve. On those nights she had made fifty dollars an hour. "Valentine's is worth how much?"

"Fifty," Merle said. "Except that there has been a miraculous turn of events in your favour. There wasn't just one request, but two."

"Two?" Hitomi asked, stunned. "What happens when there are two?"

"Well, you can either go out with the highest bidder, or you can go out with the one you like, or you can go with the one who made their appointment first, or whatever. You can flip a coin if you want. Feel like working?"

Hitomi crossed her fingers and said, "If either of those guys were Van Fanel, I'll definitely be working."

Merle's eyes lighted up. "That's a charming development! We're not supposed to have clients that we favour, but then I guess it's inevitable. I have some that I like better than others, but I'm probably more mercenary than you are. I like the ones that pay more."

"Was Van one of them?" Hitomi asked impatiently.

"Yes, he was," Merle said, looking carefully for Hitomi reaction.

"YES!" Hitomi cheered with her arms in the air. "Excellent! I'll go! Sweet AS!"

"Wait, Darling," Merle continued. "Get off the ceiling and listen to the rest. Hey!" she yelled, to get Hitomi's attention. "Sit down!"

Hitomi forced herself to sit on the floor, but her cheeks were burning – she was so excited. Another date with Van! Ooooo!

"Calm yourself. Van has only offered to pay the standard fee, because he was the one to call and make the appointment before the other guy called and you got double booked. The other guy said he wanted you, too. So, we asked him how much he was willing to pay since you already had a date that night."

"Did you book me not knowing whether or not I'd be able to come in?" Hitomi questioned, feeling like she knew the answer before Merle told her.

She winked. "Naturally. I didn't take you off the books. You still owe me money."

Hitomi groaned and Merle went on.

"Anyway, he offered one hundred dollars an hour – into your pocket."

"A hundred dollars … an hour! You must be joking. A guy does not pay that much without expecting sex!" Hitomi exclaimed.

"This guy does. When he offered that much, the rules were firmly explained to him and he said he wanted you for a date and nothing more."

"Have I met this guy before?" Hitomi asked, putting a hand on her hip. "Did I go on a date with him?"

"I don't think so. He said that he saw you at the New Year's Eve party you went to with … Van? Anyway, he thought you were interesting and he wants to take you out. His name is Dilandau Albatou. So, which will it be?"

Hitomi shrugged. "I'd rather date Van, but that's a lot of money. Does he only want me for an hour then? Could I go to both?"

Merle shook her head. "If memory serves – both of them wanted from seven p.m. to midnight. So, pulling a double header is out of the question, but I'm proud of you for asking. You've got a dirty mind after all, don't you, Tomi?"

"Shut up! I'm trying to make money here!"

"Then date Dilandau instead. You'll make twice as much and cover five hundred dollars of your debt to me in one night. Even making a hundred dollars an hour, that won't even cover half of what you'll owe me by then. I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd date Dilly, stop being a goody-two-shoes, and work for the agency until you get a real job. That way you'll be out of debt when you graduate and you can move forward in your life with pride."

"You just want me to swallow my pride for now?" Hitomi asked, feeling heavy.

"Everyone should do it a time or two," she said, before claiming she needed a shower and leaving the room.

Hitomi sat alone in the living room. She felt flat. She really wanted to go on a date with Van on Valentine's Day, but crappity-crap-crap-crap, she'd have to bail. She needed the money too much to take an opportunity like a hundred dollars an hour for granted. But, if she turned him down, would he ever call and request her again? She doubted it.

Yep! She was right the first time. She was SCREWED!

* * *

Valentine's Day … 

Hitomi felt sure that she was already dead and now she was roasting for her sins in Hell, but how could she have known that Dilandau would take her to the same restaurant Van would be at that night? Blahhhhhhhh……

Hitomi hadn't been the one to call Van to tell him that he had been outbid. Hitomi fed herself all kinds of good reasons why she had turned him down. She was doing this for the money, so why not do it for the money? If that was her philosophy, then it didn't matter who asked her. The sooner she could pay off Merle and her credit card and get herself into a cushy financial place the better. It's not like she wanted much. Mostly what she wanted was a reasonable meal. Eating ramen two meals a day was hardly nourishing, but she didn't have money for anything better.

She also told herself that she had only had one date with Van and maybe it was better if it didn't go any further. It's not like he was likely to fall head-over-heels with an escort, and the last thing she wanted was a fling with a guy who wouldn't take her seriously. It wasn't like she blamed him. When she was Tomi, she was only a shade better than a prostitute. It was her job to make him comfortable and treat him like she liked him. It was all a game, so she couldn't blame him if he liked to play.

When she met Dilandau in the lounge of the restaurant, she thought that she had seen him before. New Year's Eve? That's when Merle said he had seen her, but she couldn't place his face. Dilandau was blond and thin with a curious smile. He had a gleam in his eyes that couldn't be mistaken for anything except amusement. This must really be a game for him. Hitomi thought that he must get a real kick out of it. He was also young and Hitomi wondered why he wasn't able to get a date on his own – he was handsome enough for it. But it didn't take her long to figure out why he had called and offered so much for her to accompany him that night – he was the devil.

"I thought we'd have dinner with my sister and her boyfriend," he started saying, his eyes virtually on fire. "Afterwards, we're going to go see a movie."

That had surprised Hitomi. A hundred dollars an hour for a movie? Who paid for that?

However, she took his arm and went with him into the dinning room, even though she was starting to suspect that something was going on. He seemed to be having WAY too much fun.

As she stepped onto the padded carpet, she saw Van seated in a booth. He was wearing his dinner jacket like he had been on New Year's Eve, but his suit coat wasn't done up and he wasn't wearing a tie.

Seated beside him was the woman he'd introduced to her – Celena. Then Hitomi remembered where she'd seen Dilandau. He was the guy who was with Celena, and Hitomi had smiled at him. Why had she smiled at him? Anyway, now she was truly screwed because Celena was Dilandau's sister and Hitomi would be spending the evening watching Van date her. Didn't Dilandau say that Van and Celena were going out? Just peachy!

Oh well, it didn't matter to Hitomi. She was doing this for the money and oddly enough, also for a free meal. She'd carry herself with poise and dignity. It wasn't like she had to explain anything to him. There was nothing to explain. Besides, she had only dated him once. It wasn't like he was really interested in her anyway.

Hitomi sat down in the booth and scooted over so that Dilandau could sit next to her.

Actually, even though Hitomi told herself all that about how she was dating Dilandau for the money, when she sat down and Dilandau introduced her to his sister and Van like they didn't know each other – she was distinctly uncomfortable.

"We've already met," Van and Celena said at exactly the same moment. Van looked away. He bit his cheek and tapped his fingers on the table cloth. Celena had more presence of mind and said to Dilandau rudely, "I didn't realize you had such … thrilling taste in women."

Hitomi smiled. It was difficult, but she managed it. Yeah, this was Hell, but on the bright side – at least Hitomi was dressed for it. Tonight Merle had made her up herself, which meant that Hitomi was flawless. Tonight she was wearing a white-blonde wig with strawberry blonde highlights. It was so long and it hit her mid-back. Her dress was baby pink with white lace and she was wearing a red heart necklace. When Merle put the cherry-red lipstick on, Hitomi thought that her appearance was little better than cosplay.

"Don't be stupid," Merle said angrily while she applied the top gloss to Hitomi's lips. "Men like long hair, pink dresses, heart shaped necklaces, and white lace, and do you know why?"

"No," Hitomi answered meekly. It wasn't so bad to have Merle teach her a thing or two about the business, but she was too snarly.

"Because they don't wear them," Merle snapped. "He's paying one hundred dollars an hour for you, and you'd better make him feel like a man. But since I know you're so inexperienced, I can't count on you to take charge with your behaviour. So we have to do as much as we can with your appearance. Our agency's name is at stake. Don't blow it!"

Hitomi sat there at the table thinking. If men liked pink and white lace, then Celena was toast. She was wearing a little black dress – perfect for almost any occasion – except Valentine's Day. As for Hitomi, she knew that normally she'd fail at almost everything to do with feminine charm, but she had an ace up her sleeve – Merle.

Hitomi had a definite surge of confidence once she remembered her darling cousin's tutoring. She'd make this a killer night. She's make Dilandau a fantastic date and be so good to him that she'd make Van want to flip the bill for her next time.

The menus came and Hitomi looked it over with pleasure. Finally, she'd get to have something good to eat.

"What would you like, Tomi?" Dilandau asked pleasantly.

Hitomi smiled back at him. He was definitely the devil. He was enjoying this awkward situation so much. Not only did he like to mess with Van's brain, by outbidding him for the escort he wanted, but he clearly liked making his sister uncomfortable as well.

Hitomi bit the corner of her lip. "Mmm, everything looks so good. Could you choose something for me, Dilandau?"

He laughed. "Well, what do you like? Fish? Shrimp? Steak? Are you a vegetarian? Point me in the right direction."

"I like shrimp," she said closing her menu and leaning over to look at Dilandau's. "Is this one any good?" she asked, pointing to the item she had already decided she wanted.

He looked down at her and answered headily, "It's better than anything. Shall I order it for you?"

Hitomi nodded, leaving her arm on his shoulder for much longer than she needed to.

"What about you, Celena?" Van asked, his voice sounded like granite scraping against tile.

"I'll have the Mediterranean salad. You know I'm on a diet," she said decisively as she closed her own menu. She clearly did not have the same nerve to lean over Van to examine his menu.

"What about drinks?" Dilandau asked. "Tomi?"

"Tonic water," she answered.

"That's not a drink," Dilandau said, boldly putting his arm around her and resting his hand on her waist. "That's an ingredient for a drink."

"I like it," Hitomi said, looking up into Dilandau's eyes and forcing the two of them into one of those invisible intimate bubbles. "It's sweet," she breathed.

Dilandau didn't answer her, instead he seemed rather intrigued by her, and when the waiter came and took their order, he deliberately ordered only tonic water for her.

But when the interlude was over and Hitomi looked across the table at Van he looked … annoyed beyond description. Both he and Celena looked extremely uncomfortable, but Hitomi couldn't make herself feel downhearted about it. She had never been the prettiest girl on a group date before. She had always been the tomboy, tag-along, third wheel type. To be the one that both the men were admiring was a new experience for her.

Van clearly had eyes for only her, and she was pissing him off because Dilandau's arm didn't leave her waist until the food came. It was cruel, but Hitomi was happy. She had never seen a man get jealous or be angry because of her. Cheers to new experiences!

When their food came, Hitomi thought for sure that Dilandau would send his steak back to the kitchen. It didn't even look like it was cooked. When his knife bit into it, his plate practically filled with blood. Was he really going to eat something that raw?

He chuckled when he saw her face and offered, "Would you like to try some?"

Celena laughed outright at Hitomi's screwed up nose and horrified expression. 'You should try some. You're so fond of enjoying the moment!"

Dilandau took a slice of the steak and put it on his fork.

"Crap!" Hitomi thought. "I only know one way out of this." She took his fork and as she was about to place that red raw meat into her mouth, she flipped it around and fed it to Dilandau instead.

"You're very kind," he said when he finished chewing. "Do you really not want to try it?"

"I plead guilty. It's too red for me. A little girl like me couldn't stomach your meal," she said, twisting her hair between her fingers. She looked alluring, but in her heart she was questioning why he was practically drinking blood. It was disgusting.

Van was doing his best to ignore them as he began sawing into the loaf of courtesy bread.

"Are you all right?" Celena asked him, taking the knife from him and doing it more delicately than he was able to. "Let me do that," she said.

"You're very capable," he said turning away from her and looking at the other diners instead of Celena.

Guys had said things like that to Hitomi lots of times, and she'd always taken it as a compliment. Just now, she realized that Van meant it as an insult. Had all those boys who had said similar things to her meant to insult her? Most of them hadn't hung around. But one thing was clear, he didn't care if Celena was good at slicing bread or not.

Hitomi picked up her fork and started in on her meal. Thank goodness it was good.

* * *

After dinner they went to a local movie theater to see a movie. Hitomi fought to remember afterwards which one they saw, but she could never remember. She had spent the whole movie in the dark holding Dilandau's hands in decent locations. She didn't know if he would stray, but she didn't trust him enough to take the chance. In the dark of the movie theater she sat between Dilandau and Celena, by Dilandau's design. Hitomi thought that he was trying to rub Hitomi's beauty in his sister's face and also keep her as far away from Van as possible. 

After the film, the three of them went out for coco at a nearby café and Dilandau and Celena criticized the movie for a solid hour. Hitomi had nothing to contribute. She hadn't been paying attention. Van simply stared at the floor. Anytime Hitomi looked at him, he seemed fascinated by something away from their table.

Dilandau and Hitomi said goodbye close to midnight outside the café. They had already shaken off Van and Celena.

"Do I get a kiss?" Dilandau asked, moving in to get one anyway.

Hitomi put her fingers over her mouth and said, "That's not part of our contract tonight. Besides, you don't even want to kiss me. You were just having a ball making Van and Celena suffer."

"And you helped me!" he said positively, drawing her into an embrace. "When I first saw you, I could tell that you were a good sport."

"Don't kid yourself," Hitomi said sharply. She didn't feel like she was under any obligation to remain under the pretense that they were on a happy date when they were talking alone. "It's in my contract to play your game. I keep my promises."

Dilandau laughed. "Tell me that you didn't enjoy teasing them?"

Hitomi averted her eyes. He knew she had found some of it interested.

"Where did you get the idea to do something like this anyway?" she asked instead of answering his question.

"My sister wants Van," he said.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem to me that you like your sister very much. Why do such a grand favour for her?"

"I owe her," he said simply. "Now how about if I make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"Anytime Van phones your agency and asks for you to 'accompany' him, please promise to telephone me. I'll double whatever he offers for the night, and you won't have to bother with anything as silly as a date with me. What do you say?"

Hitomi frowned. She needed the money so badly, and who was Van to her? After tonight he would probably never think of her again without simultaneously thinking a curse. There wasn't anything there to fight for. Most likely, he hated her. Finally, she answered Dilandau humourlessly, "I hope he calls every night this week."

"That's a good girl," Dilandau said brightly, before helping her into a taxi.

* * *

Author's Notes: There has been no beta reader. If you noticed an error. I apologize. I don't mean to make mistakes, but I have no plans to agonize over them for this piece. This is written solely for my enterainment. And maybe yours a little bit too. I was truly impressed with how many people came to review last time. Actually, I was totally blown away. Thank you. You'll turn a girl's head. 

**Important** - My original story 'Ghost Mist' is now available on fictionpress. I can't post the link in here, but if you go there and do a search on Sapphirefly, you'll find it easily. Also, if you're too lazy for that. If you say in your review here that you want to read it, I'll send you the link. Kay? Please go read it. It's my treasure story that I poured all my heart and soul into.


	3. Working Nine to Five

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but I like to write dumb stuff.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**Working Nine to Five**

Hitomi got on the bus and sat on a seat near the front. She pulled out her discman and put her headphones in her ears. She could afford batteries – at last.

It was April and she's just finished her last accounting exam. It was nice to have it off her shoulders. Her course at the college had been in administrative assistance. Now she could go look for a real job instead of escorting guys. Hitomi wasn't sure, but she thought the punk band in her headphones sounded like the halleluiah chorus.

Besides, there was one other reason she was excited about quitting her job as an escort. Once she had her evenings free again, she could maybe try to find a real boyfriend. She'd given up thinking that there was a way for things to work out between her and Van. It had been two months since Valentine's Day and he had made no request for her since then. Yeah, that opportunity had bombed out. Hitomi kept telling herself that it didn't matter. She had paid off Merle and the credit card people, like she wanted to. She was walking into the world with zero debt. Hitomi thought that the price had been very low. All she had to do was keep 'regular Hitomi' away from guys and she was always fresh for work. But now that was all over with, she really wanted to find herself a boyfriend. All this dating had left her experienced and now she had a really clear idea of what she didn't want in a guy.

Most guys she went on dates with were really impressed by the façade Hitomi and Merle put together. They thought she was cute as a button, but was that really important? A guy who was impressed with a solid rack (inserts), thick eyelashes (fakes), long luscious hair (wig), and everything else that she was when she was Tomi … was a guy that was simply not for her. She actually found herself sympathizing with Celena. Hitomi found that her real personality was probably more like Celena's than Tomi's. She wanted a guy who saw her as a person without all that excess, added flare. The only thing that put Hitomi down was that she suspected that Tomi was about a zillion times more likely to score Mr. Right than Hitomi herself was. Well, she'd worry about that when she found Mr. Right. Until then, she'd be herself – fully and completely – and maybe he would see her. Right? She was keeping her fingers crossed.

That evening Hitomi went to the hair salon and got her hair cut. It been getting a little long lately, as in it had been covering the tops of her ears. She went and got it cut so that it was only three centimeters long on top and practically buzzed up the back. When she left the salon, she felt totally empowered. Her head felt so light. No wig anymore. No heavy hot thing on her head. She breathed deeply … and summer was coming.

Over the next few weeks, Hitomi kept on working at the escort service. She wasn't the only college graduate desperately trying to land herself a job. The competition was fierce, and Hitomi didn't have anything special to recommend her, except a stunning recommendation from the pub she had stopped working at after Valentine's Day. She had a few interviews, but nothing to get excited over.

Finally, she got asked to an interview at Capeir Incorporated. It was a job working as an assistant to a public relations officer. The lady who interviewed her was very sweet and she explained the job to Hitomi very thoroughly, but Hitomi was too excited to be there to do anything more than nod and promise that she could do anything. She didn't hear a word the woman said. When Hitomi looked back on it, it seemed like the lights in the room were so bright that she couldn't even see the woman's face.

After Hitomi accepted the job, she went into her jewelry box and pulled out the glasses she hardly ever wore. Clearly, she needed them if she hadn't been able to see the woman's face. Hitomi would need to be able to greet her when she showed up at work Monday morning.

* * *

When Hitomi got to work on Monday morning she realized that she had been interviewed in Human Resources and not on the floor she would be working on. She was supposed to go to room 512 on the fifth floor.

All in all, Hitomi felt pretty chipper. She was wearing navy trousers and a white collared shirt with a baby blue sweater-vest overtop. She had gotten her hair cut again on Saturday. Merle had done it this time as a courtesy because she couldn't stand the idea of Hitomi going to a salon for something she considered as little more than a buzz cut. Merle never wore a wig herself. Her roan tresses were real. Hitomi thought that Merle was a really good cousin, even if she was snobby about her hair. She even got up that morning to make sure that Hitomi sparkled for her first day at her real job.

Now Hitomi was getting off the elevator on the fifth floor and looking for room 512. The office was really clean. The outer ring of the tower was lined in private offices while columns of cubicles filled the inside tracks. There wasn't even a bullpen. Pretty spiffy!

Hitomi found room 512 really quickly. This couldn't be her office, she would probably get a cubicle, but there was her boss's name plate. So cute! It read: Van Fanel – Public Relations Officer.

Her jaw dropped.

She was SCREWED.

Did the woman who interviewed her say that she was going to be working for Van? Hitomi seemed to be under the impression that she would be working for the woman who interviewed her. Now unless that woman gave Hitomi the wrong room number over the phone, then Hitomi bet that she worked for Human Resources and was simply interviewing for Van's assistant in his stead.

Hitomi was staring at the door and thinking rapidly. Had he seen the applications? Did he select her application because he knew that she was the girl from the escort service? Hitomi bit her lip as sweat came off her in buckets. Maybe he was in his office now and she should knock.

Hitomi raised her fist to knock when Van himself came around the corner.

"Oh hello," he said cheerfully. "Are you Hitomi Kanzaki?"

Hitomi smiled and put out her hand to shake his. It was suddenly really sweaty. She hoped desperately that he wouldn't notice or think it amiss if he did.

He shook her hand warmly and reached into his pocket to get the keys to his office. "I'm Van Fanel. I'm sorry that I wasn't here for your interview, but I was extremely impressed with what Eries told me about you. It's so rare to find someone who doesn't mind working overtime – evenings and weekends. Working in PR is very exciting, but it's hard to find someone who really wants to dedicate themselves to the proper representation of a company. I hope you're up to the challenge."

"I am!" Hitomi claimed energetically. Once again, she was blindly agreeing to things. She was trying to figure out if he already knew who she was. Her hair was really different, she was sans inserts, flashy jewelry, and to ice the cake – now she was wearing thick rimmed glasses! If he didn't know that she was the same person, she promised herself that he'd NEVER FIND OUT. She was clenching her fists in determination like she was about to beat the crap out of him.

He unlocked the door and invited her into his office. It was an absolute disaster. There were mish mashed piles of paper everywhere.

"Is this what they call 'organized chaos'?" she asked, taking a stack of paper off one of the chairs. Everything was covered in paper.

"No," he said, sitting down at the desk and unlocking the drawers. "This is what they call a mess. I don't mean to depress you, but the first thing I need you to do is sort through this trash and file it."

Hitomi gulped. This was certainly a great task.

"But right now we have to do something much more important," Van said. Surprisingly, he looked even handsomer than she remembered. Maybe it was the sun coming through the blinds hitting his cheek, or maybe it was simply because he was gorgeous. He was wearing a black button-up-the-front shirt – far from formal, which she had always seen him in before. Hitomi thought he looked better this way. If she kept this job she was going to be in major trouble if she couldn't stop drooling over him.

"I didn't get the chance to interview you," he said. "So if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few questions. Would you humour me?"

"Of course," Hitomi said, smiling and trying to act relaxed. She was still sweating buckets.

"You just graduated from community college this spring?"

"Yes," Hitomi answered.

"And you were working at The Backhanded Pub and Grill until February?"

"Yes."

"Why did you leave that job? Your reason wasn't listed on your resume," Van asked, leaning forward from behind his desk.

The real reason was that she wasn't making enough money and she could make much more working at the escort service, but she hadn't listed that she worked at the escort service on her resume. But working in public relations, maybe that would have been an asset. Hitomi smiled on the outside, but she cringed on the inside. She was going to have to lie. "I was afraid that my job was interfering with my studies and I wanted my grades to be high," she answered.

"Really?" he exclaimed. "How studious! That's interesting because when I called your reference there, he said that you left because you were offered a higher paying job."

Hitomi frowned. She couldn't believe she was caught in her lie already. "That's what I told him," she stammered. "The truth is that I was going to go work with my cousin at her place of work, but that fell through."

"So, why didn't you go back to the pub? It sounds like they would have rehired you," Van said generously.

"Like I said, I found it was interfering with my studies," she answered, trying desperately to make herself sound legitimate.

"Well then, are you from the city? Did you grow up here?" he asked, allowing her slip-up to pass.

Hitomi answered that she grew up in a small down. She moved to the city to room with her cousin and to attend college.

"And you're only eighteen?" he asked mildly – looking on her like she was a child. He hadn't looked at her like that when she was Tomi. He looked like he appreciated her as a woman and now he looked like he thought she was barely out of diapers.

"No, I'm nineteen," Hitomi answered – her cheeks burning with fire.

"You'll learn a lot here," he said positively. "I'll make sure this is a really good job for you to get experience at. If you work hard with me, you'll probably have a fantastic job waiting for you when you're done here. Let me show you your office."

Hitomi noticed that he didn't use the word 'cubical', even though that was clearly where she was going to be. It was sort of sweet of him.

"You'll be stuck with me all day, so if you want a cup of coffee or anything, now's the time to say," Van said, getting up and beckoning her to follow him to the kitchen.

"I don't drink coffee," she told him.

"That's fine. If you drink orange juice, I'll treat you today," he offered.

"Thank you," Hitomi said. She was following down the hall, trying to keep up with his long strides.

* * *

By the end of the day, Hitomi had learned all kinds of things about Van. First, he gave her a tour of the office. He showed her where the photocopier was and how to fix it when it jammed. It seemed that everyone called him before they called the repairman. Then he introduced her to the receptionist and the rest of the staff. Everyone seemed to sparkle when he stuck his head into their offices. Finally, Hitomi reached her conclusion about him.

He was a gem! He had to be a gem! Not only did he not recognize her from before, but he was honestly happy to have her with him now. He said that he'd been working his job for the past seven months and he'd been promised an assistant when he was hired. But it was only recently that the budget was approved for him to finally get one. He was so happy.

"Now my office will be clean," he said jubilantly. "And that's so important in our line of work. I have to invite people into my office all the time and it's so painful when it's a mess, but I don't have time to clean it."

Hitomi's first day of work was incredible. Working for Van was going to be awesome!

And he'd never find out that she was Tomi. If she had to protect her secret to her grave – she'd do it, because as soon as he found out, she'd have to leave. But this job had been too hard to get to simply cast it off because she used to be an escort that Van hired.

Knuckles to nose – he'd never find out.

* * *

When Hitomi got home, she told Merle about her first day at the office and how her boss happened to be the guy who had lost the bid for her on Valentines Day.  
"Holy crap!" Merle exclaimed noisily. "How the freak did that happen?"

"He wasn't the person who interviewed me. Instead it was a woman from Human Resources."

"And she didn't _say_ that you'd be working for Van Fanel?"Merle asked, ultimately perplexed that such a screw up had happened on her watch.

"I'm pretty sure that she mentioned it during the interview, but I wasn't listening to her very carefully," Hitomi admitted bashfully. She hated admitting to her stupid side. "I was just so excited to be interviewed for such a great job."

"Well," Merle said authoritatively, putting her feet up on the coffee table. "I don't believe for one second that he didn't know that you would be the same girl. He probably watched you come in for the interview even if he didn't speak to you himself at the time."

"But I look totally different … and men are stupid. He wouldn't have known the difference," Hitomi persisted.

"Even so, if he figures it out, or it comes out in the open, there's only one thing to do," Merle said darkly. Hitomi wasn't sure, but sometimes Merle acted like a gangster when it came to stuff to do with the agency.

"What's that?" Hitomi asked, almost jumping backwards at her cousin's forcefulness. "We aren't going to kill him, are we?"

"Hmm … You just leave it to me. I'll take care of you," she said, pounding on her chest with her fist.

* * *

Author's Notes: Hiya Kittens! Well, I'm not updating 'Mark of a Goddess' until I figure out whether or not I'm going to write a fourth book. If you have an opinion on the subject, please contact me (seriously - every little bit helps). I think I've worked out about 16 chapters worth of plot, but honestly ... I have no idea after that (and coming up with those 16 chapters was bloody tiring). But I want to see if I can come up with a worth while story. I want to see if I'm worth my salt as an author. I think I'm onto a good thing - I just have to come up with an ending. Grrr!

Anyway - thank you to everyone who's following this story. Weird, ain't it? I've never written anything that I think is this funny. I laugh my can off whilst I read it. Oh, and no beta reader, so there could be lots of errors. I'm not as good at seeing mistakes as I used to be. Cheers!


	4. Another Job

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. I just have this thing for my fans.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**Another Job**

Hitomi's first week at work was a blast. She honestly had no idea that dull work could be fun if you were working with the right people. She'd often heard Merle say things like that. It didn't matter what your job was as long as you got to work with fun people. Well, Mr. Van Fanel had the market on making the workplace fun.

For one thing, he was absolute eye-candy. There was no woman in the office that didn't look on him like he was the 'golden boy' of the office. He was the most charming, the most charismatic, and he looking positively mouthwatering whether he was smiling or frowning. And Hitomi was his partner in crime. She was the little person he took everywhere with him. He took her to meetings and lunches with business partners while he fleshed out press releases and argued with talkative men about projects that were over and done with. He called it 'training'. It made her feel really popular and like she was instantly accepted by everyone in the office.

He stayed in his office and worked on his computer responding to emails while she tidied the place up. He didn't seem at all uncomfortable to have her there and didn't ask her to leave the room when he talked about sensitive matters with executives over the phone. Hitomi thought that this was a remarkable display of trust, because her nondisclosure agreement wouldn't be ready for her to sign until the end of the week.

Then Friday came. It would have been an ordinary day, except that something unusual happened around lunch time.

A tall elegant blonde swept through the elevator and made her way over to Van's office. Hitomi didn't get the message herself, but she heard the receptionist buzz Van in order to let him know that Celena Albatou was on her way to his office.

Hitomi heard it and attempted to hide her face. Van might not be able to tell the difference between 'Hitomi' and 'Tomi', but Hitomi bet that Celena would take one look at her and the jig would be up. She couldn't let her see her.

Hitomi was sitting at her desk hiding her head behind her computer hoping that Celena would just slip into Van's office without stopping to talk to her, but then she realized that Van would probably introduce them. Hitomi got up. It wasn't a very mature way to deal with the problem, but she'd have to hide in the bathroom until Celena left. Besides, it was lunch time. They were probably going out for lunch together and if Hitomi could just stay out of sight for a few minutes then she'd probably be in the clear.

Hitomi hurried around her desk, but whoops – she wasn't fast enough. Celena had already come around the corner and saw her.

Then Van came out of his office and Hitomi cringed. It was the end of the world. She was caught red-handed.

"Hi Celena," Van said simply when he saw the blonde.

Hitomi looked at Van and then looked at Celena. She couldn't help but wonder if they were still the couple Dilandau said they were at Valentine's Day.

"Hello Van. How's work?" Celena chimed.

"I want you to meet my new assistant," Van said, beckoning for Hitomi to join them. "This is Hitomi Kanzaki. This is Celena Albatou from Financial Services."

Hitomi was right about Celena. It took her about a micro minute to say, "Hello Hitomi. Have we met before?"

Hitomi smiled, but didn't even get the opportunity to say a word before Celena finished up.

"Ah, yes, you used to date my brother Dilandau didn't you? Or was it Allen?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Hitomi said, preparing herself to tell a white lie. "I haven't had a real date since high school."

"Really?" Celena said, not exactly sounding catty, but definitely sounding like she didn't believe her. She almost sounded confident. Apparently, the 'Hitomi' in front of her was a person she could deal with and understand, unlike 'Tomi'. "That surprises me. You're very cute. Didn't you meet some exciting boys at college?"

"I was in administrative assistance," Hitomi explained. "There weren't any guys in my program."

"Ah, I see," Celena said, smiling warmly.

"Are you two going out for lunch?" Hitomi asked, backing away. "I'll just get out of your hair. I'll have those letters ready for you by the time you get back, Van." Then she walked away from them expressing internal gratitude that she didn't have to call him 'Mr. Fanel'.

Then she worked like a demon through her lunch hour. There was no way that Celena wouldn't recognize her and bring it to Van's attention, and then Hitomi would be canned. The only thing to do now was to work her can off to prove to him that she was honest in her desire for this job whether she used to work as an escort or not.

In the end, Van didn't come back from lunch, but instead called her and asked her to lock his office for him at the end of the day. He would see her on Monday morning. Something came up.

* * *

If Hitomi thought that there was no price to be paid because she took a job working at an escort service, she was wrong. Sure her parents didn't find out and make a fuss about the morality of it and the possibility of her being raped, but worrying about what Van was going to do when he came back to the office on Monday was torture.

On Sunday morning, Merle came into the kitchen with the cordless phone and asked, "Do you feel like doing one more job for the escort service?"

Hitomi was sitting at the table nursing a bowl of blueberry yoghurt and thinking about her trouble. "One more job?" she asked emphatically. "Heck no! I'm already in deep water. I told you all about it."

"You mean how that crabby woman from Financial Services met you as Tomi twice and now she's going to reveal your true identity to Van?"

"Yeah," Hitomi said. She was so depressed about the prospect of being canned from her first real job as an admin assistant and losing Van. She'd probably never get another boss like Van. Forget boyfriend. A boyfriend you only saw for a couple hours in the evening. A boss you spent eight hours a day with and maybe extra if there was an event – and that was where the money was.

Merle abruptly came up and grabbed Hitomi by the hair. "Since when did you turn into such a friggin' sissy?"

"You're hurting me!" Hitomi bawled.

"Then stop being so flipping pathetic," Merle raged. She let go of Hitomi and slammed the phone on the table. "This is your chance to remove all suspicion that 'Hitomi' and 'Tomi' are the same person."

"How so?"

"The person who's requested you is Dilandau Albatou. Isn't he that guy who outbid your precious Van on Valentine's Day?"

"Yes," Hitomi answered.

"Didn't he pay so much for you just so that Van wouldn't get to have you?"

Hitomi nodded.

"Then, here's what I think. I think Dilandau is asking you again because his snotty sister wants to show Van that you are Tomi."

"All the more reason why I shouldn't go!"

"Do you want me to grab your hair again?" Merle threatened, towering over her. "If you don't show up, it might seem like an admission of guilt. Here's what I say you do. Dilandau said that he's taking you to a carnival for charity. There is no doubt in my mind that Van and Celena will be there also. I'll dress you up in a dark wig. I'll also find you some brown contacts. You'll be Cleopatra by the time I'm finished with you and no one will dare think that you are the same person as Hitomi. You'll be in the clear if you can manage to trick them into believing that you're definitely a different person. You can pull it off – can't you?"

Hitomi had started to see things from Merle's perspective during her speech. Merle was right. She should grab the bull by the horns and do this – hardcore.

"Okay!" Hitomi said, gathering up all her energy. "When is the date?"

Merle looked at her watch. "You're supposed to meet him at gate at two o'clock this afternoon. It's ten now. Get in the shower," Merle ordered, pushing her. "You'd better be out in exactly ten minutes. It's not like you have any hair to wash and that's just enough time to shave your legs. Move it!"

Hitomi had a shower and did everything else that Merle told her to do. Today, Merle decided that Hitomi was going to wear a yellow sweater with white jeans. She would wear a heavy silver belt over her sweater. To top it off, Merle also gave her a pair of white witch boots with wicked ten centimeter heels.

"Don't trip," she said coldly as she set them by the door for Hitomi.

Merle wasn't kidding when she told Hitomi that she needed all four hours. She used almost every moment. By the time she was finished, Hitomi did indeed look like Cleopatra. Her wig was dark brown with a few gold highlights, but it wasn't as long as the one she wore on Valentine's and only fell a little longer than her shoulders. Once she was wearing the brown contacts, she was also suddenly given license to wear twice as much eye makeup as the usual. Merle used a different colour of foundation as well. Hitomi looked completely different.

At two o'clock, she waited for Dilandau outside the fair grounds. Hitomi had never felt so confident in her escort garb as she did that afternoon. She was so empowered. She was positive she made the people standing around her uncomfortable.

Then all at once, Dilandau, Celena and Van approached the entrance. She waved to Dilandau and he approached her.

"Is that you, Tomi?" he asked _after_ she kissed his cheek.

"Yeah, of course. What is it? You look surprised," she said, taking off her sunglasses and looking at him roguishly.

"You just look totally different from before," he said.

"I was blonde on Valentine's Day, wasn't I?" she flirted, not daring to look at Van and Celena. She didn't understand why Van was playing this game. Wasn't he above all this? Wasn't he brave enough to just ask her directly? And not only that, but it really looked like Dilandau hadn't lied when he said that Van and Celena were dating. They had to be a couple, since they were still together, right?

"Don't women usually go darker in the winter and lighter in the summer?" Dilandau asked coyly.

Yeah, he would be the type of guy who knew that. Blah … he probably even read women's magazines. Hitomi wanted to shoot herself. Somehow in the rush of preparation, she had forgotten that he was the devil.

"Normally," she said, still not losing the gleam of trouble in her eye. "But I didn't want your sister to think that you'd stopped dating 'thrilling' women," Hitomi said, before she turned around and greeted Van and Celena. "Celena! Darling, you look wonderful. That diet of yours must have done you good, because today you look simply radiant." Then she took Van's hand and shook it, trying her best to make her handshake as different from 'Hitomi's' as she could. "It's nice to see you again," she said to Van, right before she turned around and poured all her attention on Dilandau again. 'One hundred dollars an hour,' was what she told herself as she took his arm.

Dilandau didn't seem like his ordinary tricksy self as he took her around the carnival. They went past a petting zoo and a merry-go-round, but he didn't seem interested in anything until they got to the games where you got to shoot things. Van stood beside him and they both shot twenty rounds at paper targets. Hitomi half expected one of them to be a good shot, but both of them sucked.

Afterwards Dilandau said to Van and Celena, "I'm going to take Tomi to go get something to eat. Why don't you both go … pet some goats or something?" He didn't even wait for their answer before he put his hand in Hitomi's and headed towards one of the hotdog carts.

"Really that anxious to lose them?" Hitomi asked, turning into the heartless wench she had transformed into the last time they were alone.

"You didn't call," he said sourly.

"Van never called and made a request for me," Hitomi said sternly. "I thought that was the deal. Besides, I don't phone clients and ask them to take me out."

"Why not?" he demanded.

"I'm here for you – for your needs. I don't have needs when I go on a date with you. I am here for your comfort and pleasure only. I do not phone and ask to fulfill your needs if you don't say that you need me. Even you should understand that much about all this."

"Well, I thought I did. I'm probably just being an idiot, but going out with you is a lot different than dating the girls I know," he said, slipping his sunglasses over his rouge eyes. "You're not afraid to show affection in public. You aim to make others jealous. I never saw a girl do that before. Even today."

"That's because that's what you want," Hitomi said. "I'm good at reading people."

"Then you're the only person who's good at reading me."

"You can't think of me that way," Hitomi said as he steered her away from the food carts and towards the grassy park.

"The thing is I want to take you on a real date – get to know you and have you get to know me. If it's money you want, I understand that a woman has to make her living somehow. I'm really well off, I could give you a bank account with plenty of money – if you'll give yourself the chance to get to know me," Dilandau said.

Hitomi couldn't believe he said that. This had to be a trick. Van and Celena were probably waiting in the bushes somewhere watching to see what would happen next.

"I don't believe you. If you really wanted that with me, then you would have called me sooner. It's June now, Dilandau. Our last date was in February," she said coldly.

"I didn't realize that I felt this way until I saw you standing there with your dark hair. Blondes never did turn me on," he said, moving to touch her hair.

She slapped his hand away. If he touched her hair, he would definitely know that it was a wig. "Don't give me that. Like I'm going to fall for a cheap line like that! Exactly who do you think you're talking to? Some country kid who just climbed out of the pumpkin patch?"

"You're too good," he said, contorting his mouth into something that almost looked like a smile.

Hitomi let go of his hand and pulled his sunglasses off his face. "Another thing is that a man who was truly sincere wouldn't confess while wearing sunglasses. Nothing you do strikes me as the actions of a man who's truly in love or even interested. You're playing another warped little game with your sister and her boyfriend, aren't you?"

"That's what I thought before I saw you today," he said wickedly. "But unfortunately, I have to pay off my sister before I can play the games I like. So for now, we're playing hers and I paid you to play," he said, grabbing both Hitomi's arms and pulling her close to him, so that their noses almost touched.

"Okay, so tell me what you want me to do instead of playing these stupid mind games with me. I'm on your side."

"You see Van, over there. I need you to do something to make him change his mind about you. My sister wants to marry him, but he won't consent because he says that he can't get you out of his mind and he hates the idea of being in love with someone as false as you. So, his attraction for you is keeping him from my sister – even though he doesn't want to be with you either. Think you can do something about that?"

Hitomi was puzzled. "So you wanted me to come today looking – unattractive?"

"What? Women are insane. You look different today, but you're so damn flirty that it doesn't matter if you're flirting with me, or him – he probably still admires you. I need you to cross the line and --"

"Make out with you?" Hitomi finished for him. "I'm not doing that. But if it would make you feel better, I'll go break up with him. I'll go tell him to forget about me. It might take him a bit longer, but then he might decide to marry your sister after all."

"You'd go that far?" Dilandau asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Of course," Hitomi said, pushing his hands off her and moving away. "Do you think I want our little game to ruin his real life? How stupid. Besides, both you and him are forgetting something really important."

"Which is?" Dilandau asked.

"I have a life outside this," Hitomi said over her shoulder as she walked away to go find Van.

* * *

Van and Celena really were eating outside one of the hotdog stands. Hitomi walked up to them – a total of ten centimeters taller than she was normally – and asked Van if she could talk to him privately.

Celena looked vexed by that little development, but allowed Van to go without kicking up much of a fuss.

Hitomi walked with him out of the fairgrounds and to the parking lot. She had no plans to go back to Dilandau after this. She will have fulfilled her obligation to him by then. Besides, Celena definitely knew now that she and 'Tomi' were the same person – or she was an idiot. She had probably already told Van the truth about her and Hitomi was just screwing herself over by trying to avoid the truth.

"Van," Hitomi said, leaning against the carnival sign. "I hear that Celena wants to marry you."

Van looked confused. "Why do you want to talk to me about that?"

"Well, Dilandau told me. He's a bastard and a half, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Van said, turning away.

"Listen, I want to talk to you about me for a second, but first I want to confirm something with you. Dilandau told me that you really like me and that's why you won't marry her."

Van took a deep breath. "Sorry about that," he said. "I was using you as a scapegoat. You have nothing to do with it. I was just using your name as an excuse, because I really don't want to marry her or even date her, but she won't give up on me. If you were never around, I'd have said something else." He paused. "Sorry, I owe you an apology. I didn't mean to pull you into something like this."

Hitomi smiled. "That's a relief, but I sort of have another problem I'd like to talk to you about if I could."

Van didn't say anything. He looked awfully grim. Maybe it was just because Hitomi said that it was a relief that he didn't like her. Hitomi thought that it must have been her imagination, but didn't he usually laugh at difficulties?

"You see," Hitomi began. "I sort of had some trouble last summer. I was planning on going to college, but I missed the deadline for a grant and for a scholarship. My student loan and savings weren't enough to pay for my second semester or my housing. I was in a lot of trouble and the last thing in the world I wanted was to go home to my home town with my tail between my legs. So, I ended up taking a job at an escort service to pay my tuition and to pay for my living expenses."

"Naturally," Van said, looking like he was bored and wanted to go.

But Hitomi was going to make him listen to all of it. "Then I got that job working as your assistant."

Van's eyes bugged out of his head. "You mean, Celena was telling the truth?"

"Yeah," Hitomi admitted.  
"I didn't believe her. You don't even look the same when you're at the office."

"No, my cousin takes good care of me. She helps me look like this. The thing is, that I'm really the girl that works in your office. That's my true personality. I'm not like this at all. I worked for the escort service for the money. In fact, I have already quit, but I didn't want to run away from the consequences of what I did. I wanted to face you honestly and tell you that I really do want to be your assistant quite badly. I'll be really disappointed if I can't work for you. Please don't can me over this."

Van started stepping away from her. "I don't think I can sack you over this, but I'll have to talk to our lawyers. It could turn out to be a scandal on our end if it comes out that you were an escort and we have a history. Especially, if Celena reports us to my boss, and I wouldn't put it past her."

Hitomi stared. She had never thought that there would be consequences for the company.

"But I might get off the hook since you didn't disclose that you were an escort on your resume," he continued.

"You mean that you're thinking about your own hide?" she asked.

"Why would I worry about you?" he asked boldly. "You're not going to suffer from this, and actually neither am I. The only thing that's going to suffer is our _company's name and discretion_."

The sound of his voice when he said those four words made Hitomi's blood ignite – she thought she would explode. "I can't believe you're thinking about that in a time like this!" she yelled.

"What if the press gets involved?" he questioned angrily.

"Oh, poor Van," she pouted. "Who do you think you are? You're not the C.E.O. or a vice president. You're not even the director of our division. You're just a P.R. officer who couldn't get an assistant. You think anyone cares if you hired someone who used to be an escort? You think anyone cares if you used to sleep with a prostitute? No one cares about your dirty little secrets. You are not important enough to warrant a scandal. The worst thing that could happen is your boss will call you into his office and talk to you about it seriously, and then laugh. That's right. I think he'll laugh."

That seemed to take Van down a notch. His shoulders sagged and his face turned beet red. "What do you know?"

She shook her head. "Of course, I will take responsibility for what I did. Oh golly, I went on one date with you and so now I'm blacklisted for life. Dang!" She paused for a second before she started in again. "And you Mr. Fanel think you're so friggin' cute and you know what – you are. So cute that it nearly broke my country-girl heart when you didn't outbid Dilandau on Valentine's Day. I needed the money badly that night and I hadn't worked since New Year's. But if you had called me any other night of the week, I would have said 'yes' and gone with you for free. You know, I didn't want to be an escort. It's not my style! I'm not even sexy without Merle's help, but I needed to eat. That's right – things had been going so badly that I couldn't eat properly. I even had to skip meals – often. Perhaps you didn't notice the way I inhaled my meal on Valentine's—"

"I noticed," Van said quietly, interrupting. "I noticed. I just didn't think it was anything that serious."

Hitomi stopped talking and stood there panting for an instant. She needed to catch her breath.

Van suddenly put a hand over his eyes and said, "Look Hitomi, this has been a lot to take in. You're right. I think I exaggerated how serious this was. I'll talk to my boss tomorrow morning and see what he thinks the best thing is. Why don't you go home now and I'll explain your absence to Dilandau. If he doesn't want to pay you for the whole time because you ducked out early, I'll cover your fees."

"Thanks," she said, turning around and calling Merle on her cell phone (Merle's cell phone) to ask her to come pick her up. She couldn't think of a good reason to bother with a taxi now that her alias was shot.

* * *

Author's Notes: Yep! No beta reader this time either, so if there are errors - please excuse me. I don't mean to write errors, but sometimes they sneak up on me. Anyway, I felt it was high time I updated something. I had a cold and then I had the flu and so I have barely been able to keep myself together let alone write, so that's why things have been going so slowly.

Anyway - Mark of a Goddess information - there are still two more chapters to go. I'm still debating whether or not I'm going to write a fourth book. I just finished the storyboard and I'm having three people look at it. If they think it's worth the trouble, maybe I'll do it. But I have to decide before I release the last two chapters of MoaG (the conclusion will depend somewhat on whether or not there will be another book).

Thanks everyone for reading! I love reviews!

* * *


	5. Monday Morning

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**Monday Morning**

On Monday morning, Hitomi got dressed with unusual deliberation. She was intentionally dressing prudish. She couldn't help it. If she showed up at work looking even a little bit playful she just knew that she would be in for it. She wore black trousers, a white collared shirt, no adornments in her hair and only minimal product so that her short hair didn't look unruly. Her glasses looked thicker even after she applied her mascara. She had to look professional and steady.

When she came into the office, Van was waiting for her. Leaning against the wall in the reception area he said, "Drop your bag off at your desk. We have a meeting with Dryden this morning." Then he handed her his half filled coffee mug and said, "Oh, and please top me off."

Hitomi took the mug from him and headed down the hallway towards her desk.

Dryden? Hitomi had heard the name before from one of the other girls in the office, but what had they said about him? Hitomi flipped through her office directory until she found him, but it wasn't easy since Van hadn't told her his last name and that was how the names were alphabetized. His name was Dryden Fassa and he was the director in charge of marketing and public relations. Of course that was Van's boss, but that didn't stop her shoulders from slumping. They had to talk about this with someone _that_ important. Ugh!

Hitomi dragged herself to the kitchenette and tossed out Van's coffee in order to pour him a new cup. If only she could remember what she heard said about Dryden. She just knew it would make all the difference. Then she headed back up to reception.

Normally, when she went to a meeting, she took a notebook with her, but there was no need this time. It made her feel like she was going to her last meeting.

She took a deep breath and handed Van his coffee.

She wasn't sure if Van was as rattled as she was. He looked almost the same as always except that he was wearing a suit and tie instead of his usual black attire. Maybe he had paid a little extra attention to what he wore that morning as well. That thought was sobering for Hitomi. After all, he was only twenty-four or twenty-five, and still starting out in the professional world in the same way that Hitomi was. He was just as worried about his future as she was about hers. She ought to be easier on him. Although, she couldn't wish that she hadn't scorned him the day before. She honestly felt that everything she said was correct and he was just being arrogant.

Van looked at the clock. Now it was quarter after nine. "Okay, time to go. Are you ready?" Van asked her skeptically.

"Yes," she said, even though she was very nervous.

Van took her up the elevator to the next floor. "Dryden lives with the marketing people instead of with the P.R. officers. They need more room when they prepare for their advertising campaigns, so the biggest office is in their corner."

The marketing floor was much different than the public relations office. There were tables laid out for design and there were tons of old posters and old campaign material everywhere. The people working there also looked a lot different. They seemed to Hitomi to either be very chic or very … non-chic. In other words, she saw a woman dresses as a goth consulting with a man in a plaid shirt. No one in the place was dressed like Van and Hitomi – they looked like high powered executives compared.

After speaking with the receptionist, Van steered Hitomi to the corner where Dryden's office was located. His office was not at all what she expected and he was the director.

While it was a warm, sunny June morning, all the blinds in Dryden's office were pulled tight shut. Instead there were several track lights giving all the illumination that was necessary to stop the place from being completely like a bedroom. His office was large enough for a couch and actually there were two. Both of them were covered in zebra print furry blankets. This was the director's office … how strange. But at the same time, Hitomi wanted to laugh. Now she remembered what she heard about Dryden. They girls said that he was a complete free spirit. Van had to report to this guy that he had accidentally hired an assistant that he had also purchased as an escort. Yeah – Hitomi had been right. There was no way a guy like this guy was going to hit the roof.

However, even though Hitomi felt relieved the problem was still not resolved. If she couldn't get along with Van (her real boss) then she might as well not work here anyway. It was a crappy situation and it looked like he was still mad at her.

Van knocked politely on the doorframe and a melancholy voice called from within, "Van, is that you?"

"Yep!" Van said cheerfully, sounding like every inch the 'go getter'.

He and Hitomi came in while Hitomi got to have a chance to look at Dryden. He was clearly a pretty young man himself. He couldn't be over forty, but he was sitting in his swivel chair like it was a throne with one his hands covering his eyes and the other one tossed carelessly aside. He was holding a pair of glasses in that hand when he beckoned for them to sit down.

Van didn't look uneasy as he sat down and Hitomi couldn't make herself feel anything other than curiousity over such a singular person.

"Ah, Van," Dryden said, taking his hand away from his brown eyes. "What have you done now?"

"Do you mind if we close the door?" Van asked.

Dryden rested his scruffy chin on his bony knuckles and agreed.

"Hitomi, would you mind?" Van asked.

Hitomi immediately got up and closed the door for them, making the room even darker and more intimate since the light from the hall was now gone. Van didn't speak again until Hitomi joined him on the couch.

"Do you remember a conversation we had last winter before the seasonal office party?" Van asked.

Dryden looked at Van like he clearly didn't recall. "Sorry, I don't. Around Christmas last year, the only thing I remember was fighting with the board of directors that Internal Relations shouldn't be part of my division. As if I can handle all the office parties that need to be thrown as well as our corporate image. How stupid!"

"I remember the hassle," Van said steadily. Hitomi kept her tongue in her head as he proceeded with his voice that was smoother than butter. "But what I was talking about was our conversation before the New Year's party. You asked me if I had a date, and when I admitted that I hadn't had time to ask anyone, you suggested that I call an escort service."

Hitomi nearly choked. His boss had been the one who told him to call for her? What the heck had Van been going on about the day before?

Dryden laughed. "Yeah – I remember. So? Why's this coming up now?"

Van didn't stutter or choke or anything, he just said, "Well, I decided to take your advice."

"You did?" Dryden laughed. "I think I saw who you brought. She was definitely a stunner. So, how did it go? But, Van, I have to ask you. It's great that you're telling me this – I'm really interested – but why did you call a special meeting with me six months later in order to tell me this? And why did you bring your assistant? You could have just walked in."

"This is Hitomi Kanzaki – the escort I hired that night," Van said, introducing Hitomi for the first time.

Dryden's eyes bugged out of his head.

"You have to understand that I didn't do the hiring myself," Van started. "Eries from Human Resources took care of it for me. Also, when I knew Hitomi as an escort, she went only by the name 'Tomi'. When she came to work for me as my personal assistant – I didn't recognize her. Celena from Financial Services did recognize her though and informed me. I didn't believe her, but then Hitomi told me herself that it was the case."

"Really?" Dryden said, looking speculative. "Really? Hmm …"

Hitomi bit her lip. There, Van had got the chance to explain himself to his boss, so now everything should be square with them, right?

Suddenly, Dryden got up from his chair and came over to where Hitomi and Van were sitting. "Stand up," he said.

Hitomi and Van both got up.

"Not you," Dryden said to Van. "Just her." He was looking at Hitomi very carefully. "Hitomi," he said mildly. "Would you mind standing under one of my track lights for a second?"

"Not at all," Hitomi stammered as she moved to stand where he told her to.

"Would you take off your glasses, please?"

Hitomi took them off.

Then Dryden asked, "Are your eyes are naturally green?"

"Yes," Hitomi answered.

He was looking at her face very closely. It was making her so uncomfortable she couldn't stop sweating.

"I'm not sure what you're looking for," Hitomi asked, looking over Dryden's shoulder at Van.

Van was shaking his head and pacing.

"Do you have a complicated morning routine for your skin?" Dryden asked suddenly.

"No. Why?"

"Because, it's damn near perfect," he said moving away from her. "You had long hair at New Year's, didn't you? Have you had a haircut since then?"

"Not really," Hitomi answered. "I normally wear my hair short. I was wearing a wig."

"And did you always wear a wig when you dressed up as an escort?" Dryden went on.

"Always, but I don't work for the agency anymore."

"Did you do your hair and makeup yourself for these occasions or do you have someone at your agency help you?"

"My cousin Merle used to help me. Why?"

"Well, you see, I had heard of the escort called 'Tomi' before today," Dryden said, picking up his coffee cup and taking a drink from it. He leaned against his desk and looked satisfied.

"What?" Hitomi asked, but not as quickly as Van.

"You've heard of her before?" Van piped up.

"Last night I was talking to a friend of mine about the new ad campaign we want to introduce for the fall – advertising one of our cell phone lines. For ages we've only used one model," Dryden explained as he pulled out a black and white poster of the ad from last year.

Hitomi unrolled it and saw one of the most beautiful men she'd ever seen. It was a perfect picture of his profile as he stood on a corner of a busy city street. The traffic was flying by him and his long pale hair was rustled by the energy of it. He had a headset in his ear and basically looked like the epitome of masculinity. Hitomi had seen this ad before. It always made her want to buy their brand of cell phone attachments, even though she didn't own a cell phone.

"The model in that picture is Allen Albatou. Since you've met Celena you might as well know that he is her half brother."

"Really?" Hitomi asked – flabbergasted. She never would have thought.

"The point is," Dryden continued. "We've been looking for a female model to work with him, but finding someone has been most troubling. No one is tall enough, pale enough, or flexible enough. I was talking to Dilandau last night and he told me that he knew an escort called 'Tomi' who would be perfect for the job."

"Dilandau!" Hitomi exclaimed.

"He's Allen's agent," Van interrupted.

All the hair on Hitomi's neck suddenly stood on end. Dilandau had said something the day before about playing his games. Holy crap, this must be one of them.

"Anyway," Dryden continued. "If you can do it, I'd like to see how you look with Allen. Like I said, we've been driving ourselves crazy looking for someone to match with him and if there's a chance that you would work, I'd like to try. Interested?" Hitomi didn't get the chance to answer before Dryden finished up by saying, "Besides, even if you didn't work here, I think Dilandau was planning to call your agency to invite you to a meeting."

"Oh!" Hitomi said. "So you're not worried that I used to work for an escort service?"

"No," Dryden said, sounding impatient. "Everyone has to start somewhere and if you don't know how to make some odious person happy then you're worthless in our line of work. Now all you have to learn is how to bullshit like Van and then you'll be an heir for greatness. What do you say to meeting with Allen to see if we can pair you up?"

Hitomi's wanted a chance to think, but what Dryden was asking for really wasn't much. He just wanted her to meet a ridiculously handsome man to see if she looked good beside him. She didn't want to get caught up in Dilandau's garbage, but a chance to model with Allen … should something like that be passed up just because there are one or two slimy people? 

"What do you need me to do?" Hitomi asked.

"Just dress up like you normally do when you're going to go on a date with someone. So, if you wear a wig – wear a wig. That sort of thing," Dryden said, getting back behind his computer.

"But normally, I dress up for a particular situation. Could you give me a little more guidance? I'm not an actual model. I used to work as an escort which means that 'yes' I specialized in being the pretty little trophy on a man's arm, but I need more information than which man I'm going to accompany," Hitomi said, feeling like she was slipping back into 'Tomi's' shoes.

Dryden smiled. "Dilandau was right about you. You'll work splendidly."

"What did Dilandau say about me?" she asked.

Dryden glanced at Van.

Van's jaw was clenched. Yeah, he looked pissed as Hell. His eyes were practically on fire.

Finally Dryden answered her, "Just dress in fall colours. Last season's are fine. I'll tell Dilandau to dress Allen in the same thing and I'll have my assistant contact your office with the day we schedule." Hitomi noticed that Dryden successfully avoided her question. It seemed to Hitomi that he knew a lot more about this situation than she did. Hitomi couldn't figure it out. Was he a particular friend of Van's or of Dilandau's? She didn't know.

Van hustled Hitomi out of Dryden's office shortly after that and hurried her downstairs. It was clear that things had gone badly from his perspective and now they were only going to get worse.

* * *

Hitomi got a call from Dryden's assistant later the next day. He informed her that they hadn't been able to nail Allen down for a meeting until the end of the week. The meeting time they had been able to get was Friday afternoon at two o'clock in Dryden's office.

Shortly afterwards Van called her into his office. He had not been himself since their meeting on Monday morning with Dryden. He had been the 'golden boy' of the office, but now he was more like the grouch who now only surfaced from his trash can to complain. Working for him the week before had been so pleasant and now it was exactly how she always imagined work to be – a chore.

Hitomi closed the door (under his instructions) and sat down.

"Always close the door when we're alone in here together from now on, okay?" he asked while writing something in his day planner.

"Okay," she said simply.

"Sorry about what I said to you at the carnival," he said. "I realized after you left that you were probably right, and that working as an admin assistant was obviously your true goal all along. Otherwise, you wouldn't have tried to get a job working as one. If you liked being an escort, then why even finish college? I overreacted and everything you said put things into perspective for me. I was being pigheaded."

"Yeah, you were," Hitomi said easily. "But I appreciate the apology. It shows that you're not really pigheaded. You just had a flare of panic. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks for that," he said. "If I could, I'd like to ask you something."

"Sure," Hitomi said, thinking how handsome he was when he was humble. The way his head bent down was sure cute.

"How well do you know Dilandau?" Van asked.

"I've only met him twice and you were there both times," Hitomi said.

"Really? It seemed to me that you two must know each other much more than that if he's trying to make you a model."

"I don't know where he's getting that from. I never told him that I wanted to be a model. That isn't on my 'to do in this lifetime' list. I didn't even know what he did for a living. So, he's an agent for his brother, eh? I thought he'd do something more …"

"More?"

"Evil," Hitomi finished.

"You don't think that being the agent for the highest paid male model in our part of the country is evil?" Van asked dryly.

"Is it?" Hitomi asked innocently.

"I don't know if Allen would be what he is today if Dilandau wasn't willing to do everything he could to make sure that he was a success. Dilandau's very persistent, strong-willed and very rich – which is why I couldn't outbid him on Valentine's. Sorry, Hitomi, but if I said that I was willing to pay a hundred dollars an hour for you, then Dilandau would have paid two hundred an hour. I never would have been able to outbid him. I'm a bloody P.R. officer and my year's income doesn't touch his. Surely you noticed that he paid for dinner in its entirely at that fancy restaurant on Valentine's?"

"Yeah, I noticed. I thought it was pretty normal, but Van – you suck. You should have called and said that you'd pay a hundred an hour," Hitomi said, still thinking with her impoverished brain.

"Why?"

"Because then I could have got two hundred dollars an hour from dating that blood drinker!" she explained.

"You really did do it for the money!" Van laughed, seeing her dollar-sign filled eyes. For one second, he looked like the Van she knew the week before. He leaned back in his chair and looked content, but then a thought seemed to cross his mind and the mirth left his face. "Can I ask you a personal question about being an escort?"

"Go ahead."  
"Thanks. I was just wondering how detached you are when you play 'Tomi'. Is the real you close to the surface or do you almost forget about your true self?" he asked.

Hitomi knew what he was talking about. Only a person who pretends to be something that they're not will know what it is to deny your true self expression. "Well, when I was first doing it, there was no difference between 'Hitomi' and 'Tomi', except in our appearances. We were the same and I was just putting forth the effort to make the man I was dating comfortable. But, I think you're right, as I got further into being her – my only quality as 'Tomi' was feeling the needs and preferences of the person next to me and trying to do what would make them the most happy."

"That's what modeling is all about," Van said. "It's about feeling out the photographer or the director and achieving the image they want. You'll probably make a great model, even though I'm against it."

"Why?"

"One other question, Hitomi," he said, sidestepping her question. "Did you really tell all your dates that you liked them?"

Hitomi shook her head. "Why would I do something stupid like that? It's just a game."

"What about what you told me?" he asked her, his eyes looking specifically interested in her answer.

Hitomi realized that this was a trap. At first she didn't know how to answer him. Was it really okay to have an office romance with your boss? Hitomi had always thought that your boss was strictly off-limits. He was the last person in the world you should try to date. It might look like you were trying to use sex appeal to get promoted … but Van couldn't promote her. He was new, too. All the same she thought it was best to stay out of trouble. It didn't matter whether she liked Van or if she thought that he was the best thing she had ever seen. She couldn't get involved. "You're too handsome for me," she said flippantly, before excusing herself from his office.

"Hey! I didn't tell you to leave," Van called after her.

So, she had to come back in, close the door, sit down like a good little girl in one of his chairs, and pretend that she hadn't just been flirting with her boss.

"On Friday, don't worry about coming in first thing in the morning," Van said, sounding like her boss again. "Your time sheet will be the same. I was just thinking that it probably takes you some time to effect your transformation into 'Tomi', so come in at two o'clock for your meeting with Allen and then you can go home. If it's okay with you, I'd like to keep it quiet in the office that they're even considering you for the job of modeling for that campaign. If things go well, I'd like to keep you low profile until after the ads come out. I hate office gossip."

Hitomi nodded, seeing his point of view. She guessed 'Tomi' couldn't die quite yet.

* * *

Author's Notes: So how do you guys like Allen as Allen Albatou? Personally, I thought that was an incredible idea.

I've finished the last two chapters of 'Mark of a Goddess'. I'm just waiting to get them back from Kaytala - my beta reader. It's been Christmas and all that so she's been busy like everyone else, but she does great work, so she's worth the wait. So, those last chapters will come out when she has time. I haven't had a beta reader for this project and there are lots of errors - probably - but I'm not good at spotting them, so please forgive me. Thank you everyone for reviewing this project. YOU ROCK MY WORLD!


	6. Model Man

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**Model Man**

When Merle heard the news that Hitomi had been invited to a trial photo shoot with Allen Albatou, she was ecstatic.

"It's all because of me!" she proclaimed happily. "It's because I'm a genius with my makeup brush. I get to dress you up for your meeting on Friday, don't I?"

"Of course you do," Hitomi agreed quickly.

"I should have gone to beauty school instead of screwing around with the escort service, don't you think?" Merle said, crawling into one of her many makeup bags looking for supplies.

"It's not too late," Hitomi reminded her. "You can still go. Just work yourself though school while working at the agency."

"Right," Merle said sarcastically.

After this conversation, Hitomi wished that she hadn't spilled the news to Merle about her meeting with Allen until the night before, because Merle turned Hitomi into her Barbie Doll. She put a poster of Allen up on the wall in the dinning room and practiced different fashions and makeup styles on Hitomi all night every night of the week.

Merle was so determined for Hitomi to be hired as the model that she was almost killing herself coming up with the perfect style to match with Allen. She went shopping during the day while Hitomi was at work trying to find the perfect autumn outfit even though the stores weren't selling fall shades in June.

On Friday morning, Merle had come up with the perfect thing and worked on Hitomi all that day – except that she allowed Hitomi to sleep in until ten. She dressed Hitomi in a brown corduroy miniskirt and a black off-the-shoulder top. Then she gave her a forest green scarf to wear around her neck. Then she gave her a pair of brown suede boots. Hitomi couldn't believe that Merle had been able to come up with something so elegant in June.

The last thing was the wig. Hitomi knew that Merle had been nervous about its selection. In the end, she decided on the wig that Hitomi had worn on Valentine's Day.

"It won't be good if Allen is more feminine than you," Merle said decisively. "Except that I almost think you should go red for this, but I don't think that would be a good idea since this Dryden guy saw you with a blonde wig. He's expecting a blonde, isn't he?"

Hitomi nodded. She had tried on a red wig at the agency once, just to see how it looked and she was surprised to see that it turned her peaches-and-cream complexion into strawberries-and-cream. She could never be a redhead.

Merle drove her to the office herself and said that she'd wait for Hitomi.

"Don't wait for me," Hitomi insisted. "It's okay. I don't have any idea how long I'll be and parking downtown is really expensive. How about if I just call you when I'm finished?"

"Okay," Merle agreed. "But don't get picked up by anyone. Come straight home and tell me how things went. Okay?"

Hitomi agreed and moved to get out of the car.

"And wear your shades, Tomi," Merle reminded her as she dropped her off in the loading zone in front of Hitomi's building.

Hitomi slid on the glasses. This wouldn't be so bad. Van said he would meet her in the foyer about ten minutes before the interview, so he'd take her straight upstairs and she wouldn't meet anyone from the public relations office.

Hitomi pushed through the revolving door and stepped onto the marble. Van was there, leaning against the wall by the elevators.

"You haven't got any grape gum in your mouth, have you?" he asked coyly when he saw her.

"Hi Van," Hitomi said cheerfully, sliding her sunglasses off her nose. "How do I look?"

Van looked at her carefully. Then he took her hand and span her around so that he could have a 'proper' look at her. "I should have asked you to come earlier so that I could have taken you to out to lunch before the meeting. Then I could have scored a free date with the popular and elusive Tomi."

"Don't joke," Hitomi said as she took her compact out of her purse to make sure Van hadn't mussed her when he twirled her.

"Who was joking?" he said.

Hitomi glanced up at him. There was definitely a difference in the way Van acted towards her when she was dressed up like this. When she was 'Hitomi' she was a child who needed to be guided by him. She wasn't exactly the competent office professional that he needed her to be yet, so when they were in the office together, he was still training her. But right now, when she was 'Tomi' she was no longer his trainee, but once again the woman that he could never have. And from the look in his eyes – he did want her.

Hitomi smiled in response and pressed the button for the elevator.

Once they were inside with the doors closed, Hitomi started to think. Her relationship with Van couldn't be this way, he had to see her for who she truly was whether she was dressed up as 'Tomi' or not. He couldn't partition the two in his brain and make her two people.

"You know, Van," she started saying. "Now that you know I'm wearing a wig, doesn't it seem kind of weird that I'm wearing false hair on my head? How can I possibly still look special to you when you know it's fake?"

Van shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't make a difference."

"Why not?" Hitomi persisted.

"I don't know," he answered. "Just because you know something is a trick doesn't mean that it's not dazzling. You're like a magician."

Hitomi gulped. What was he saying? Shouldn't he at least try to hide that he thought she looked gorgeous for the sake of their professional relationship? Instead he was closing the distance between them so that their arms were touching.  
The doors began to open. "Are you ready for this?" Van asked.

Hitomi roller her eyes and answered, "Psyched."

"Take my arm," he instructed. "I'll lead you to the meeting."

Hitomi slipped her fingers around his elbow and allowed him to lead her up to the reception desk. He was wearing a suit again and the fabric was rough. Hitomi smiled. Van was so cute. After checking in, Van took her to Dryden's corner.

This time the zebra blankets had been tucked away somewhere and all the blinds were open. Dryden's office almost looked respectable as Van and Hitomi came in and sat down on one of the couches. Hitomi thought that they were early, but Dilandau and Allen had beaten them there.

Dilandau sat looking like every inch the calculating devil. He was wearing rouge shaded sunglasses and the neck of his shirt was open. When Hitomi came in, she expected him to get up and hug her or at least shake her hand. Instead, he didn't move from his position on the couch and only waved slightly with one of his hands. He acted completely indifferent even though he had been the one to set this up.

Allen seemed friendlier than his brother because he smiled broadly at Hitomi and Van when they came in. Yeah, he was handsome. Hitomi was impressed with his style. She could tell just by glancing at him that it didn't matter what he was wearing – he was going to look fantastic no matter what was put on him.

After the introductions and preliminaries, Dryden called Hitomi and Allen to stand up together to see how well they matched.

Dilandau joined Dryden and looked on with interest almost as if he was partially in charge. "Since hair colour is an option on Tomi, do you think she would look better as a brunette?"

"No," Dryden said quickly. "The thing that's special about Tomi is that we can match her hair to whatever shade we want, as long as it compliments Allen's. Also, her eyes – a blue-eyed girl wouldn't have filled the bill. I still haven't discarded the idea of having everything in the photos black and white except for their eyes."

"What does it matter what colour her eyes are," Dilandau said, looking at her and Allen together. "Your graphic wizards don't care what colour her eyes are. They'll make them the colour we want."

Dryden frowned and picked up his camera. "You two talk!" Dryden yelled at Hitomi and Allen. Then he turned to Dilandau and started explaining something.

Allen turned and looked at Hitomi. "So, how long have you been working in this industry, Tomi?" Allen asked.

"I'm not really a model," Hitomi said carefully.

"Really?" Allen said, looking intrigued. "That's interesting. Who recommended for you to take this job? It's a pretty big break, even if you worked for years."  
"Dilandau did," Hitomi answered.

"That's even weirder," Allen said, laughing. "I wonder why he's trying to get you a job. Maybe he wants to be your manager, but that seems odd, too. He never takes on clients. I'm the only one."

"He thinks I'm talented," Hitomi answered. "He thinks I'm good at sensing the emotions of others and supplying them with what they want. Van thinks I'll be able to sense the wants of the photographer and give them what they're trying to capture."

"Wow!" Allen exclaimed. "That's pretty impressive. But how did you convince those two of that? They're so different. That strikes me as …" then he stopped. In that moment, it was clear to Hitomi that Allen realized something and it wasn't something good.

"Did Dilandau tell you anything about me?" Hitomi asked.

Allen shook his head like he was shaking off a particularly bad thought. "No. He didn't say anything. But he never talks about a woman unless he's insulting her, so the fact that he didn't say anything about you is the compliment." Here, Allen actually smiled.

Maybe Allen thought he was telling a joke … maybe not. Whatever Allen's thoughts, Hitomi was one hundred percent convinced that Allen was telling the truth. Dilandau was the type of guy who used women. Hitomi was growing to learn that more and more. This photo shoot was just an opportunity for him to use her … but why?

"How is Celena doing?" Hitomi asked breezily. "I haven't seen her in about a week."

"Well, then you've seen her more recently than I have," Allen said coyly, looking at the scarf at Hitomi's throat. "So, I should be the one asking you how my sister is. Was she well?"

"She seemed to be doing all right," Hitomi answered cautiously. Allen definitely had a scary look on his face. He was about to do something

"Tomi, do you know why Dryden asked us to talk just now?"

Hitomi looked at him curiously and waited for him to continue.

"It's so that we can get familiar with each other – comfortable. The plan for the ad casts us in the role of lovers, so we've got to get to know each other," he said, suddenly slipping her scarf from around her neck.

Maybe it was Hitomi's experience as an escort, or maybe it was the intensity in Allen's eyes which Hitomi knew to be false. One wolf recognizes another. The reason why Hitomi was mesmerized was because she'd never seen a guy pull that sort of trick on her before, or be so good at it. He looked like he was interested in her, enchanted by her, and perhaps even more. He wanted her to play along and Hitomi was so used to the game that her bottom lip quivered.

At that instant, Dryden rapidly started taking pictures.

Allen finished the moment by bringing her scarf to his lips. He kissed it lingeringly as Dryden shot off with his camera.

"That's good, Allen," Dryden said, as he pulled his camera away from his face. He started reviewing the shots on his digital camera when he stopped at one of them and looked hard at it. "Hmmm … Dilandau, look at this one."

Hitomi was impressed that he wasn't already leaning over Dryden's shoulder, but he had been giving him some space.

Dilandau went up and looked at it. His eyebrows flew up in the air like leaflets caught in the wind. "That's not bad," he said, scratching his nose and keeping his tone deadpan.

"Did it turn out well?" Allen asked, approaching the two of them. Dryden showed him the picture. Allen looked less impressed than Dryden and Dilandau. He even stepped back quickly to make room for Van.

When Van saw the picture, all the air escaped from his lungs and he visibly drooped. "That's more than I expected."

"More than I expected too," Dryden said easily. "Funny, she didn't look star struck by Allen when she came in the door."

"I'm not," Hitomi said urgently.

"Really?" Van asked leaving space beside Dryden for her to have a look at the monitor.

When Hitomi got her first look at the picture, she was stunned. Only Allen's back was in the picture. His hands were moving around her throat to remove her scarf. He was hardly in it. The main feature of the picture was her face. The look on her face was like the open heart of a wounded bird. She looked like she was the heroine on the last page of a romance novel where she had just spent three hundred and sixty five pages tearing her heart to shreds over Allen and now he was confessing that he had been in love with her all along.

Hitomi didn't know what to say. She didn't know she was capable of that much emotion. It hadn't been over acting, had it?

"Did I go too far?" she asked Dryden.

"Not at all," Dryden said pursing his lips together. "Actually, it makes me feel like you might be capable of a lot more than a simple still photo. We might be able to get a commercial out of you, but let's start with the photos."

Hitomi swallowed hard. "Does that mean you want to hire me?" she asked huskily.

"At least for the still photos," Dryden said, nodding approvingly. "You don't have an agent, do you?"

Hitomi was about to answer 'no' when Van piped up. "She doesn't need an agent. I'll look out for her in the place of one."

"That's ridiculous," Dilandau rebuked. "Van's not qualified for something like this. She needs a real agent."

"Does that mean that you want to take her on?" Dryden asked. He was definitely laughing at the situation.

"Well, I—"

"He doesn't have time," Allen interrupted. "He keeps telling me what a full schedule we have and we truly do. The only reason why I was able to come here today was because of the importance of our business with Capier Inc."

"We're happy to be your valued customer, Allen," Dryden said soothingly. "And I wouldn't dream of letting Dilandau represent Tomi. Van will do nicely."

"Why do you get to make that sort of decision?" Dilandau asked crankily. "Shouldn't a decision like that be left up to Tomi?"

Dryden raised an eyebrow and gave Dilandau a curious look. "It's okay. Tomi doesn't mind, right?"

"Of course not," she said quickly. "That's most appropriate."

"I'm glad you think so," Dryden said, laying a hand on her hair. "You're a good little employee, aren't you?"

Dilandau held his peace after that and the rest of the meeting was smooth. They made arrangements for the time and place of the photo shoot. Merle was going to be happy. Not only had Hitomi gotten the job, but she had also got Merle an interview for a job. Dryden wanted Merle to do Hitomi's makeup.

By the time the men finished gabbing it was almost four o'clock. Hitomi was glad that she hadn't asked Merle to wait for her. Parking for hours downtown was really expensive.

They left Dryden in his office and so Dilandau, Allen, Van and Hitomi made their way down to the foyer. Once they arrived, Hitomi shook Allen's hand and told him that she was really happy to have met him and that she looked forward to working with him. Allen smiled, but he seemed weary. He had probably heard the same speech from at least fifty other little girls. It was just another day at work for him. This project wasn't special.

Dilandau said good-bye to Hitomi like she was a stranger. He even turned his head to glare at her as he left the building with Allen. Hitomi couldn't figure out what was going on in his head. Was he happy that he had helped her, or was he pissed off that Van was going to be her 'agent'? Did he even know that Van was her boss when she wasn't 'Tomi'? Well, whether he regretted it or not, she was going to model with Allen.

"Thanks, Van,' Hitomi said once she could stop waving at Dilandau and Allen.

"For what?"

"For protecting me from Dilandau. Does he want to be my agent? Is that what this is all about?

"I wish I knew. Maybe it's something that simple."

"Welp, you said that I could go early, so I'm going to shove off now," she said brightly, pulling her sunglasses out of her bag. "See you on Monday," she called cheerfully as she headed towards the pay phones.

"Wait a second," he said, grabbing her arm. "Where do you think you're going looking like that?"

"I was going to go call my cousin. She wanted to hear how the meeting went. Come on! I can't hold out on her. I have to let her know that Dryden might ask her to do my hair and makeup."

"But where were you planning on going after that? Do you have plans for this evening, Miss Hitomi?"

Hitomi's mouth made a perfect O, but no sound came out.

"Well?" Van persisted.

"No," she answered.

"Well, can I take you out to dinner?"

He was asking her for a date. He was honestly asking her for a date. Was it because she was dressed up like this?

Hitomi frowned. "Van," she said, suddenly stepping very close to him and slipping her fingers between the buttons on his shirt. "If I went home now and took off my wig and this outfit and came out with you looking the way I normally do at the office, would you still want that date?"

He hesitated. Damn him.

"I don't think I can go on a date with you," she said, backing away from him. "Sorry. I'll see you on Monday."

"Wait," he said, grasping her upper arm and stopping her. "I don't understand. Why do you have to change?"

Hitomi sighed. She bet he wouldn't chase after 'Hitomi' like that, but he couldn't take 'no' for an answer when 'Tomi' was involved. "Look, Van. Do you remember our conversation in the elevator? This person you see in front of you isn't the real me. It isn't anything like me. It's a fabrication, a façade – nothing. It's professional bull shit. Surely, you must understand that. It's a show. I know you must put on a show when you're doing your public relations thing, so you should know exactly what I'm talking about."

"I'm not sure I do know what you're talking about," he said seriously. His black eyebrows pulled tight. "Of course it's necessary to be a little more congenial when you work – especially in P.R. – but I think my personality is the same whether I'm working or relaxing."

"Well, I don't feel that way," Hitomi said, pulling her arm out of his reach. "I change completely when I dress this way. I become outspoken, I think about how I turn my hips so I can make the most of them, I put myself completely aside for my date's comfort, and I even think that it's possible for me to get men to like me who would never look at me twice otherwise."

Van clenched his jaw and swallowed. He clearly didn't know how to answer that. Hitomi expected him to look mad, but when she looked at him carefully she saw that he looked concerned for her as well.

"This job of yours has really screwed you up, hasn't it?" he said finally.

"Maybe it has," she said, breathing deeply.

"Listen, I have a better idea," Van said closing the distance between them. "Instead of taking you out for dinner, why don't I cook you dinner instead? We can even swing by your apartment on the way there so you can break the news to your cousin. Will that suit you?"

Hitomi cocked her head. This had suddenly taken a very strange turn. What was going on?

* * *

Author's Notes: I really have fun writing this. It's so weird. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reads the story and reviews. I appreciate the nod. I had no beta reader for this, so I'm sure there are plenty of errors. Oh well - this is just for my entertainment.

* * *


	7. Out of the Office

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne - but I own everything else - MWHAHAHAHAHA!

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

**Out of the Office**

When Hitomi got in Van's car, she was more relaxed than she thought possible. It wasn't a fancy car, but an ordinary Toyota sedan, very much like the one her parents owned. The interior was even similar.

She gave Van directions to her apartment. Part way though her discourse Van stopped her by asking, "Couldn't you just give me the address? It seems like we're just following the number twelve bus."

Hitomi shuddered. They _were_ following the number twelve bus. She wasn't very familiar with the city, even though she had lived there for almost a year and didn't know how to get anywhere without taking the bus. It was because she was a country girl.

She blushed and gave him the address.

Van changed lanes and look them onto a much faster moving road. Apparently, they had really been going the slow way.

Finally, he parked in front of her building. "Do you want to come in?" Hitomi asked nervously. She had never invited a guy up to her apartment before. Even the idea of it made her all twitchy.

"That was the plan," he said, taking off his seatbelt.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because, I came to watch you change."

"What!" Hitomi exclaimed. "I am not going to let you watch me change. That's just too … horrible."

"Look, Hitomi, I'm not trying to get a glimpse of you naked or something, but I want to watch you turn into yourself. Don't you think that'll take the spell off both of us?"

Hitomi looked at him carefully. What he said made a great deal of sense to her. He was probably right. If he watched her take off her wig, and all her other flare and then saw her in her regular clothes with no makeup on and her glasses then the illusion would probably be destroyed. If he didn't like her for who she truly was then it would come out right away and both of them would be spared the pain of not getting who they wanted.

"Okay," Hitomi said, thinking that there was a possibility that after he saw the transformation that he wouldn't want to make her supper anymore and would simply leave the apartment. For some reason, she couldn't let that happen. She wanted a chance to convince him that 'Hitomi' was a really amazing girl, so she had to have dinner with him. She absolutely had to. "But, I'd rather not do that here if that's okay. Could I just get a bag and come over to your place?"

Van looked shocked. "I guess that would be okay," he said reluctantly.

"Kay. I'll be right back," Hitomi said, getting out of the car and heading into the building.

* * *

Merle was ecstatic about the possibility of being Hitomi's makeup artist for the campaign and nearly hit the roof.

"Yay me!" she declared happily. "Well, should we go out to celebrate?"

Hitomi bit her lip and went into her bedroom without answering. She had to pack her bag.

"What are you doing?" Merle asked when she saw Hitomi fill up a duffle bag with clothes and shoes. "You're not doing something else that I shouldn't tell your mom, are you?"

"No," Hitomi said, realizing full well that it looked like she was packing an overnight bag. "I'll be back tonight. I won't be fooling around or anything."

"What will you be doing?" Merle asked seriously.

Hitomi thought about telling her what she and Van had planned, but decided against it. Merle probably wasn't the type to understand that level of understanding, and Hitomi didn't want to be ridiculed. "None of your business," she said, sliding her makeup remover into her bag.

"Okay, but phone if you're going to be in past two. If I wake up in the morning and you're not here, I'll call your parents and ask them if you went home for the weekend."

Hitomi nodded. She knew that Merle wasn't joking. She really would phone her parents over something like that.

Hitomi gathered the rest of her stuff together and went down to Van's car. She opened the backdoor and threw her bag in before she got in the front seat.

"Does it really take that much stuff?" he asked her.

"Yes, it does."

"Okay then," he said, shifting the car into reverse. "This is probably going to be a very illuminating experience for me."

* * *

Van's apartment was a lot nicer than Hitomi expected. There was hardwood flooring. The countertops were marble, the appliances were silver, the sofa was leather, and the plants were real.

Hitomi sat down on the couch and said, "You must make a lot more money than I do."

Van shrugged his shoulders. "This isn't really my place. This is my brother's. He's just not living here right now, so I pay rent to him. It's not even my style, but it's a dang sight better than living in the type of place I could afford. I haven't been working for very long, so it's thanks to him that I get to have this kind of lifestyle."  
She nodded.

"Are you disillusioned about me?" Van asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't got a fancy car. Surely you saw the Jaguar Dilandau drives. No? And this place; sure, it's nice, but it's not mine," he said dryly. It was like he was trying to pull the wool off Hitomi's eyes in the same way she was trying to disenchant him.

"Do you think I'm impressed with money?" she questioned.

"Well, I'm not sure. I can't get the way you talked about your escort service job out of my head. You really did it for the money, so I was left wondering how much you cared about that sort of thing."

"I only took that job because I was practically starving. Come on, I told you before that I didn't harbour any little dreams of becoming a model or an actress. I wanted to be an administrative assistant and live off that modest income honestly. I didn't want to live a glamorous life or anything like that." She paused. "Actually, this place is kind of intimidating. You'd know that my kitchen has lino flooring and that the fridge and the stove are different colours? We don't even own a dishwasher."

"But doesn't that make you aim for something better?" Van asked as he sat down on one of the arms of the sofa.

"No. Actually, I didn't realize how mismatched my apartment was until I saw your arrangement. Most of the stuff in my apartment isn't even mine. It belongs to my cousin. So, you and I are in a similar situation. You just have a wealthier relative," she said smiling. "Besides, I think I'm even more comfortable with you knowing that this stuff isn't yours. This is a pretty sterile place, isn't it?"

Van smiled and moved to a chair exactly adjacent to where Hitomi was sitting.

"Now it's your turn," he said. "I've shown you mine, now you show me yours."

Hitomi bit her lip. He was right. For men, it often seemed like their appeal was based on their purchasing power instead of themselves. She couldn't blame him for being a little nervous when she was the type of girl to sell herself for a hundred dollars an hour, which made her too expensive for his blood.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a mirror, which she propped on the coffee table between them and tilted towards her face. Then she crossed her legs and prepared to get started.

"The first thing to come off is the wig," she said pulling the claws out of her hair. Once it was off her real hair (though short) was pinned down in the front. It was terribly flattened, because wig hair is worse than hat hair. "Look at this," she said, showing Van the inside of the wig. "These claws go into my real hair to hold the wig in place."

"Are they uncomfortable?" he asked.

"They feel okay for the first couple of hours, but I can't wear it for more than eight hours or I'll have a legendary headache. But it also depends on how heavy the wig is. This is a heavier one because of its length. The wig is the last thing I put on before I leave for a job." Hitomi picked up a comb and brushed it before she put it away in its bag. "Next thing to come off is all this jewelry," Hitomi said as she started stripping her ears of their dangly earrings. "None of this stuff belongs to me," Hitomi explained.

"Whose are they?" Van asked.

"My cousin Merle's. She's the one who got me into escorting. I don't know how long she did it before she got me involved. She owns a lot of clothes, a lot of jewelry and a lot of makeup. She could probably start her own agency just on her personal store. The wig is borrowed from the escort service though. Merle has beautiful hair and would never degrade herself by wearing a wig. She's more like the real meal deal whereas I'm just a substitute for when she's got too many clients."

"I didn't realize you thought of yourself that way. You might be prettier," Van commented.

"I might be, but I think that depends on what you think is beautiful. So, once I've got all that crap off me, then the fake eyelashes come off," she said, getting enthusiastic.

"You wear fake eyelashes!" Van exclaimed.

"Yup. Not only am I sort of fair; I don't have dark eye lashes, but mine aren't very long, so fake eyelashes are an absolute must-have." Her appearance was extremely different once they were removed.

Hitomi couldn't stand to look at Van during this phase of her transformation. It was too much. No woman likes to be wiped completely clean of all makeup in front of the guy she likes. Besides, even Hitomi wore eyeliner and mascara on a regular basis. Now her face was all the same colour, except for her irises.

She reached into her hair and pulled out the pins. She shook her hair out and said quietly. "Now there's only the clothes left. Oh, and these," she said, reaching into her shirt and pulling her inserts out of her bra. This was a meaningless exercise if she didn't go all the way. She dropped them on the floor between them and was aware that her shirt was considerably looser.

She couldn't look at Van. That was just too hard.

"I'm going to go change my clothes now," she said, getting up and grabbing her bag. Then she disappeared around the corner and found the bathroom. She closed the door behind her noisily and tried to slow her pounding heart. What had she just done? What Van said in the car made so much sense, so why was she panicking now? Well, now she was certain that he wouldn't be confused anymore about whether or not he was attracted to her. This would be the end of it, but she might still be able to salvage their work relationship.

Hitomi reached into her bag and pulled out the clothes she decided would represent what she normally wore. As Tomi she was wearing a black off-the-shoulder top and a brown corduroy skirt. She brought baby blue capris and a white fitted t-shirt. It was plain and ordinary and exactly her style.

She looked in the mirror. Her hair was horribly flat. Well, there was no reason why Hitomi couldn't be pretty after her own fashion. She started the water running in the tub and put her head under the stream. At least she could easily give her hair volume when it was short. She towel dried her hair and then rooted around in Van's medicine cabinet until she found his gel. Sure, she'd smell like him, but it was better then letting her hair dry without any product in it at all. When she was finished, it wasn't so bad. It was just herself and she didn't think that she was ugly.

She clicked open the door and came out into the hall. Van was in the kitchen. He was cutting up vegetables on a glass cutting board.

"Can I help?" she asked, coming into the room.

Van turned and looked at her.

Hitomi wasn't sure how to read his expression. Was he disappointed in her and trying really hard to hide it? What was he thinking? "So, what do you think?" she got up the nerve to ask.

He smiled and then he started to laugh. "You know, this isn't what I expected at all."

"What do you mean? How could you not expect this?" Hitomi asked, indicating her appearance. "This is how I look every day at work."

"That's not what I mean. When I said that I wanted to see you change from 'Tomi' to 'Hitomi' what I was honestly expecting was for you to stand in front of your bedroom door, curtsy, go inside and come out again looking exactly like you normally do. But then when you said that you wanted to do it over at my place, I was really confused. From what you said, it almost seemed like you were going to try to seduce me, but what you had in mind was … different. I never expected you to practically throw your breast pads at me," he laughed.

"How is that funny?" she scowled.

"It's extremely funny. I don't have any sisters. I didn't see a crowd of teenage girls first thing in the morning after a slumber party. My mother is a very pretty lady who doesn't think it's her son's business to know anything about her morning routine. And to top it off, most of the girls I've been friends with would have died of embarrassment if I had seen them without their war paint. What you just showed me was … really eye opening for me. I had no idea makeup did that much. Now I'm suspicious that everyone looks completely different without it."

"So, you're not horrified?" she asked.

"No. I'm not horrified. It's actually pretty funny, and I'm hopelessly intrigued that you manage to pull it off, because you're right. You really do seem to have a different attitude when you're 'Tomi'. Come here and cut up the cabbage," he said, calling her over and giving her a knife.

They shared the same cutting board. He cut up the onion while she cut up the cabbage.

"So, which one of us do you like better?" she asked nervously.

"Well, my apologies to Tomi, but she's too cool to be real. She's really too spectacular for words. You're really perfect when you play her. Honestly, men drool over you from across the room. There's yet another reason for me to kiss you without breaking on New Year's Eve. Do you think I wanted every guy there kissing you? No Sir."

"That's thoughtful of you," Hitomi said, blushing.

"I'm very thoughtful," he said, jabbing her playfully with his elbow. "But, I don't know if a person could really be as cool as Tomi in real life. Something about it doesn't ring true – like a part of your personality is missing. You do an excellent job, but you turn yourself into a dream for a guy, like an actress or a poster girl. I guess that's why Dilandau is trying to make you a model."

"Or something like that," Hitomi said clicking her tongue on her teeth. She noticed that he didn't tell her what he thought of her – Hitomi – but she'd have to let that go for now. It would be too humiliating to ask him about it twice. But she could ask him something else, "So, what was the deal with you and Celena anyway?"

"Nothing much. She kept chasing after me and I kept running a little faster than she did. That doesn't mean that I didn't get stuck going on dates with her once and awhile, because I did. It was just never as meaningful for me as it was for her."

"Why don't you like her?" Hitomi asked.

"I don't know. She's a nice person. She's smart, successful, well-connected, and sort of pretty, but I can't make myself be interested in her."

"Why not? If she's all that?"

Van thought for a moment before he answered, "Celena is very disciplined. She eats the way she is supposed to, works out as much as she is supposed to, votes, and visits her parents. I don't know how to describe it. She lives on a tight schedule. I can't live that way and I know that if I were to get close to her she'd slide me into the appropriate timeslots and I'd just become another thing on her 'to do' list. I'd hate that. I don't want the woman in my life to hand me a number and ask me to wait in line."

"Makes sense," Hitomi agreed.

"The truth is that I asked her to go to the New Year's party with me and she turned me down because she had an offer to go with someone else the January before. The guy who asked her completely forgot about it, because he hadn't taken the invitation seriously. He asked someone else in the mean time and he wasn't willing to break his date for Celena. I don't know why she believed him in the first place. Who's going to remember something like that eleven months later? So, she came and asked me to take her two days before the event when she found out that Buddy wasn't serious. I was insulted that she was using me as her last minute life-line, so I lied and told her that I already had a date so she was on her own. Then I called your escort service."

Hitomi nodded. Yeah, that explained why Van had called her agency. She smiled. It was cute that Van's boss, Dryden, had been the one to suggest it in the first place.

"Celena surprised me that night," Van continued. "I didn't expect her to be so childish when I introduced the two of you. She was really threatened. That made me think that she liked me a lot more then she'd indicated, but I was still mad about being second fiddle to a loser."

"So, that's how she lost her chance to be with you?"

"I guess. I've tried to stay friends with her. She wouldn't be a good person to cross, but if she's really set on getting me then she's going to be disappointed," Van said, scooting the vegetables off the cutting board and into the frying pan.

"What are we having?" Hitomi asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Oh! So fancy! I'm making you a stir fry."

"Yum!" Hitomi said enthusiastically.

Van gave her a sideways glance. "You don't have to act so hyped up. Surely you've had men cook for you before."

"Actually, I haven't," Hitomi said as she checked on the rice. "Is there anything else I can help with?"

"Wash the bean sprouts, please," he instructed.

"Okay," she said, getting to work.

"You mean you've never had a guy cook for you before?" Van asked.

"Nope," she said.

"I find that hard to believe."

"Well, when I'm working as an escort I'm seldom at anyone's home. I'm usually out with lots of people. None of my dates would dream of doing anything as nice as make supper for me. They're all worried that if they don't show up with a woman on their arm that they'll look like losers in front of their friends. They're not actually trying to win me over," Hitomi explained.

"What about before the escort service? When you lived at home, one of your little boyfriends must have done something for you," Van persisted.

"What boyfriends are you thinking of? You mean someone more significant than a nervous boy approaching me at my locker and asking timidly if he can be my boyfriend. If you mean something more than that – then I haven't had one. No grand passionate love for me, and to be honest – I don't really see something like that in my future."

"Why not?"

"Oh, just because I'm more like the girl-next-door than a hopelessly unattainable escort, so I don't think it will be possible. I'll probably date an average-looking guy who works in accounting for a respectable year, get married six months later, have three kids and die old and happy. Nothing special."

"Accounting? Do you already have someone picked out?" Van suddenly flared. His back was to her as he flipped the contents of the frying pan.

"No," Hitomi denied. "I just meant that I don't have any extraordinary plans for my life, but you're very sweet, Van. You're the first man to cook for me."

"Put the spouts in, please," he asked, sounding weary.

Hitomi put them in.

"So, where did you get the idea to go work for an escort service?"

"I already told you that my cousin Merle works for one. I was poor because I missed out on a scholarship and a grant. I ran out of money and if I didn't want go home branded for life as a failure; I needed money fast. I couldn't go to a bank because I would never be able to pay the interest on a line of credit and I already missed the deadline for government student loans. On my darkest day, Merle asked me if I wanted to go to work with her and I said I would because it was my last chance to make enough money to pay everybody off."

"And did you?" Van asked.

"Yep. I don't work for them anymore. I have my dream job working for the 'golden boy' of the office—"

"The 'golden boy'!" Van exclaimed, interrupting her.

"Yep! All the girls ogle you. Didn't you know?"

"No," he said. Disbelief was written all over his face.

"It's true," she said, taunting him. "I'm very lucky."

"And you really don't hope for anything more exciting in your life than being my assistant?" he asked, looking at her incredulously.

The look in his eyes was confusing Hitomi and so was his question. She didn't know how to answer, but she did know one thing without question. There was no way a guy like Van would be interested in her if she was only 'Hitomi'. Her answer came out easily after she had that thought.

"Aw Van," she said. "I don't know what you're talking about. You don't think it would be exciting to bring a wholesome guy home to mommy and daddy? I promise you – it would be. Imagine if I took home a guy like Allen or Dilandau home. My parents wouldn't know what to do. If it were Dilandau, they'd be afraid to talk because he'd think anything they said was stupid. You know, he's so obviously critical of everything; he'd sneer at them. If it was Allen, they'd remember his commercials and advertisements and worry that I'd sold my soul to Satan."

"How about me?" Van asked boldly. "How do you think your parents would react if you brought me home?"

Hitomi almost squeaked. She hadn't thought about that. "Hmm," she said, trying to sound complacent. "I'm not sure – though I'm sure you'd do better than Allen or Dilandau. What about me? How do you think your parents would react to me?"

"I think they'd-"

Just then the doorbell rang and interrupted him.

"Were you expecting anyone?" Hitomi asked.

"No," he said, turning down the heat under the vegetables and going to the door.

Hitomi followed behind him. She hoped it wasn't Dilandau or something.

Van looked through the peep-hole and looked at Hitomi. Then he sucked in his breath and opened the door.

"Hello Celena," he said when he saw the blonde.

Hitomi wanted to disappear when she saw the look of utter horror displayed on Celena's face. Why hadn't Van warned her? She could have hidden in the closet.

"Van," Celena said quietly. "I didn't realize you had company. I thought maybe we could have dinner." She was carrying takeout bags in her hands.

Van frowned and said, "Well, if you don't mind having supper with the two of us, then why don't you join us?"

Hitomi's heart fell as he said it, even though she knew that he had no choice. If he sent her away then that might be the epitome of rudeness as far as their friendship was concerned. Besides, it wasn't like Hitomi and Van were in the middle of a hot date.

"I don't want to interrupt," she said mildly, but still not budging from her place.

"You're not interrupting," Van said smoothly.

"Well … if you're sure," Celena said as she stepped into the entryway and took off her shoes.

Hitomi followed the two of them back to the kitchen while biting her lip. Biting her lip as a reaction was mild. She wanted to roll her eyes back into her head in aggravation. She did not want to have dinner with Van _and_ Celena.

"Hey Hitomi," Van said, trying to include her. "Would you mind setting the table?"

"I can do that," Hitomi said, feigning cheerfulness. She opened one of the kitchen cupboards to find the plates, but she opened the wrong cabinet and instead found rolls of paper towel.

"I'll do it," Celena said, when she noticed Hitomi's blunder. "It'll be faster. I already know how the kitchen it laid out. Why don't you go sit down in the living room, Hitomi?"

Hitomi glanced at Van before moving. She wanted to see if he was going to let Celena order her around like that.

He didn't say anything.

"Okay then," Hitomi mumbled and went into the living room. When she got there, she saw her breast pads lying on the floor and said a little thankful prayer in her heart that she got the chance to get them out of sight before Celena came in and saw them. With nothing else to do, Hitomi decided she might as well start gathering up her stuff. She had left her wig and other accessories on the living room couch. Charming! This wasn't her bedroom.

Finally, Hitomi set her duffle bag by the door. It was an action that Celena's watchful eyes didn't miss. Maybe she thought that Hitomi had been planning to stay the night, but had now changed her mind because of Celena's appearance. Hitomi didn't care if she thought something like that.

Hitomi was slowly getting an idea of the kind of person Celena truly was. She looked so regular and sensible that Hitomi had thought that the two of them must have a lot in common – things like common sense and regular female understanding. But the truth was that she and Celena must have nothing in common. Hitomi would never have barged in on someone else's date and demanded to be included. She also would never have asked her own brother to distract the girl her crush liked so that she could move in on the other girl's territory. The more she thought about what was going on, the more Hitomi felt her blood pounding irritably. This was a really sucky mess.

Hitomi sat down at the table and waited for Van and Celena to finish up in the kitchen when she heard a ringing sound. Hitomi didn't have a cell phone, so she didn't even blink. It wasn't her responsibility to answer it.

It rang twice before Van pointed out that Celena's back pocket was ringing.

"Hello," she said cheerfully as she put the phone up to her ear. "Yes, she's here," Celena said, glancing over at Hitomi. "Do you want to talk to her?" Celena covered the distance between them and handed the phone to Hitomi. "It's for you," she said.

Hitomi took the phone. Who could be calling her on Celena's cell phone?

"Hello?" Hitomi asked confusedly.

"Hey Babe," a mellow voice drawled plainly. "It's Dilandau. How are things going? Having fun on your date with Van?"

Hitomi turned around on her seat and pointed herself towards the living room. "Why are you calling me?" Hitomi asked nervously.

"Well, I thought that maybe you might not want to hang out with Van and Celena tonight. I wouldn't."

"So? What's it to you?"

"I'm waiting in my car outside Van's apartment right now. If you feel like taking a job as Tomi, I'll pay you five hundred dollars just to walk out of that apartment and get into my car," he drawled.

"What?"

"You don't even have to date me. I'll take you home if you want. Just let me offer you a little job that is clearly more profitable than hanging out with Van and Celena."

Hitomi bit her lip again. She never would have imagined that the devil would offer her an easy-out during a situation she desperately wanted out of. Yeah, she wanted to take him up on it. Five hundred dollars and a ride home? Did it get any sweeter? But what would she say to Van? She'd think of something.

"Can you wait ten minutes?" she whispered.

"I'd wait hours," Dilandau said suggestively.

"Great," Hitomi said and disconnected the phone. She turned around to see Van and Celena standing on the other side of the table waiting eagerly to hear what her phone call had been about. Hitomi felt a sudden gush of dislike towards Celena and glared at her openly. "Van, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Van set the frying pan he was holding on a hot pad on the table and nodded for Hitomi to follow him down the hall. "Sorry, hang on a minute," he said to Celena.

With that he led Hitomi into room beyond the bathroom and closed the door. Before the door clicked shut, Hitomi saw that it was a bedroom. It was clearly Van's bedroom. Was it okay for her to be here? She'd never been in a man's bedroom before.

The room was full of books and there was a desk with a laptop on it. His bedspread was light brown and the bed was sort of made. Maybe no one had ever taught him the proper way to make the bed, but the covers were smooth at the least.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his hands together. "What was that all about?" Van asked, referring to the phone call.

Hitomi didn't answer his question at first, but instead started by asking, "Van, are you aware of the awkward, awful situation you have put me in tonight?"

"What?"

"You said that you wanted to get to know me – Hitomi – and I thought that this night was all about wiping the fairy dust off our eyes and honestly learning about one another. Now that you invited Celena in, I have been completely knocked off balance. I left myself very vulnerable taking off my makeup in front of you and since you've placed me in this weird situation, I don't think you appreciate my sacrifice."

"What do you mean?"

"With Celena here, I don't know how to act. If you purchased me as an escort I would know exactly what to do. I'd just crawl all over you with my pretenses and phony flirting until she got frustrated and backed off, but since I'm here as myself – I am not experienced or poised enough to compete with her for your attention. I thought that part of the reason you brought me away from the crowds was to give me the chance to be myself without the charade. Now that chance is spoiled."

Van looked regretful and said quietly, "It's too late to send her away."

"Maybe," Hitomi said boldly. "But it's not too late for me to leave."

"What?" Van scowled. "You wouldn't seriously leave before dinner, would you?"

"Of course I would. I don't have your feelings about social etiquette and unending politeness as far as company is concerned. I'm not so experienced in public relations yet. I have no problem walking out your front door and relaxing at home with a bubble bath and glass of tonic water. In fact, I know I'd enjoy that more than watching Celena have her way with you. Besides, Celena wants me to leave so she can have you to herself."

Apparently, Van had no response to that. Hitomi thought that he must know it to be true.

"Please don't go," he said at last.

"Do you know who called me just now?"

"I can guess that it was either Allen or Dilandau."

"Dilandau," Hitomi answered unflinchingly. "I don't think he would have called if Celena hadn't phoned him and told him I was here."

"I don't think-"

"Don't be stupid," Hitomi interrupted. "Are you so dense that you can't see that she is dead serious about getting you? Dilandau has gallantly offered to remove me from this awkward mess and I'm going to let him."

Van's eyes bugged open.

"I don't think he'll be so interested in me once he sees me without any of my frills and flounces. Do you?" Hitomi asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

Van frowned. "I don't think it will make any difference to him."

"We'll see," Hitomi said, turning to leave the room.

"Wait!" Van exclaimed getting up and grabbing Hitomi by the arm. "Is this the last chance I'll have with you?"

Hitomi didn't want this to be the end of their 'relationship' either, but at the same time – dinner with Celena? Not likely. "If you get me a pen and a piece of paper," Hitomi said, getting an idea, "then I'll give you my phone number. You can give me a call the next time you have some spare time."

"I already have your phone number," Van said, still holding onto her arm.

"Then, I'm telling you that it would be nice if we could do something together sometime. I'd like it if you called me. Regardless, I'll see you at work on Monday."

With that, Hitomi smiled and left the bedroom. She was pretty proud of herself. She'd done a good job telling him what she really thought.

"See you later, Celena," Hitomi called into the kitchen cheerfully as she went into the entryway and put her shoes on. "I can't stay for supper after all. Bye."

Hitomi had one last look at Van before she closed the door. She wasn't sure, but she thought he looked pissed. Well, he could be pissed. That wasn't a bad way to leave things at all.

Of course now she had to deal with Dilandau. Oh! Goody!

* * *

Author's Notes: I did not have a beta reader for this and I am pitifully ill, so the whole thing is probably littered with so many errors that if someone pointed them all out to me I would cry. That being said - I am pitifully ill. I'll like to update more, but it's hard when I'm so pathetic and ill. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing - you'll make me feel shiny since I'm so messed up right now. Thanks! 


	8. Into His Car

Disclaimer - I don't own Escaflowne, but I wrote this story and it's MINE!

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**Chapter Eight**

**Into His Car**

Hitomi stepped on the pavement outside Van's apartment complex and looked around for Dilandau's Jaguar. At least Van said that he drove a Jaguar, didn't he? Dilandau wasn't hard to find because his car was the only one on the street with its headlights on. Hitomi went up to it and peered through the windshield at the driver. Yeah, with those shades, it couldn't be anyone else besides Dilandau.

She reached for the car handle, but the door was locked. She tapped on the window with her knuckles and Dilandau unlocked the door. With that, she opened the back door and dropped her bag onto the backseat before getting into the passenger side herself.

"You really are the devil," Hitomi said nonchalantly as she hooked up her seatbelt.

Dilandau took off his sunglasses and turned his body a whole ninety degrees to get a better look at Hitomi. "Tomi, is that you?"

"Of course, it's me," she answered, flicking him an annoyed expression before turning her head resolutely towards the window. "Would any other woman get into your car and call you the devil without even knowing you?"

"Hey, look at me," Dilandau ordered.

Hitomi turned her head rebelliously and looked him in the eyes.

At first, she wasn't sure what his reaction to her regular appearance was. There was no glimmer in his eyes or twist of his lips to indicate if he was pleased with the real her or repulsed. Van said that he didn't think Dilandau would be put off by her real appearance, but Hitomi didn't know what Van was basing that observation on. It might be nothing.

Finally, Dilandau put his glasses back on and put his hands on the steering wheel. "You need a tattoo on your ankle," was what he finally said and Hitomi concluded that he must think that she wasn't 'all that' after all.

"Is that all you have to say? I was expecting you to be more frank," she sparked.

"About what?" he asked while turning the car onto the street.

Hitomi took a longsuffering breath before she answered, "About my appearance. Shouldn't you be making some comment about how I'm not fit to be seen with you in public without my wig or something like that? If you hired an escort and you got me the way I look right now, you'd surely be disappointed. So, why not just say it?"

"You're right. If I called and asked for an escort to be my personal eye-candy and you showed up looking like that, I'd be disappointed, but not for the reason you think."

"Oh?"

"I'd be disappointed that you didn't take your job more seriously. A certain amount of polish is necessary, don't you think? Right now, it sounds like you think I don't find you attractive because you're not covered in glamour. But, the thing is – you're making a mistake."

"I am?" Hitomi asked - astonished.

"Actually, I'm impressed that you're so pretty without it. Not a lot of women are, you know, and I know a lot of female models who look like nothing at all without their mascara. I wasn't expecting you to be half as beautiful as you are now. I'm very impressed." He paused.

Hitomi was speechless.

"Besides, it was never your looks that interested me. I told you before that I have never met a woman who was so good at reading my moods and giving me what I want. That's why I thought you were interesting and why I thought that you might make a good model."

"Do you want to become my agent?" Hitomi asked abruptly. This was the one question she really wanted the answer to. Everything else he said was probably fluff.

"Not really," Dilandau said, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't want to have that much responsibility regarding what you do. I'm merely offering this as an opportunity for you. If you want to make a big deal out of this campaign with Allen and see if you can turn modeling into a career, then that's up to you."

"So, why even suggest the opportunity? Only because you thought I'd be good at it? That seems unlike you."

"It is. See what I mean about you reading me? You're really good at it. Are you sure you don't already know the real reason behind my actions?" he asked dangerously, turning a corner at high speeds.

"I don't know and I don't want to play a guessing game with you. This is too serious for that, so just tell me already."

Dilandau abruptly manouvered into a parking lot and stopped the car. Then he turned towards Hitomi and began hovering over her like a storm cloud. She felt like he was invading her space. "I can't believe how much alike the two of us are," he said darkly. His crimson eyes shone over the rims of his shades as he continued. "I'd like to tell you what I've got on my mind, but … I'm a little concerned that you have your own motivations through all this. If you do – I doubt they are the same as mine. We need to work together, don't you think?"

"I scratch your back, you scratch mine?" Hitomi asked smoothly, refusing to lose her composure, or to be bullied by Dilandau.

"Exactly," he answered calmly. "Hmm. I don't want to take you home. How about if we go to my place?"

"So we can talk about this in a more 'comfortable' setting?" Hitomi asked dryly.

Dilandau touched his nose and put the car in reverse.

* * *

Hitomi wasn't sure if it was safe to go with Dilandau to his place without a guardian or something. She didn't think he was the type to attack her, but he acted so unpredictably in the past, she wasn't sure if she would put anything past him. In the end, she decided to go, because she wanted to hear what he had to say. She also had this niggling feeling in the back of her mind that said that she still hadn't made it completely clear to Dilandau that he didn't have a chance with her – either as a business partner or as a lover. She had to make him understand that before the end of the night and if he simply dropped her off at her apartment then it wouldn't get done.

Even after being in the glamour of Van's apartment, Dilandau's flat was more like a museum than a living space. There were thick woven rugs on the floor and actual statues placed on pedestals in regular intervals in the living room. Dilandau lit the fireplace as soon as they entered, even though the weather outside was warm. Then he sat her down on a chair which was covered in animal skin. The walls were a dark red and the paintings were clearly from the Renaissance. Hitomi felt like she had stumbled into the devil's private office.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Dilandau questioned warmly. "Would you like me to fix something for you?"

"You cook?" Hitomi asked incredulously.

"If cutting is considered a form of cooking," Dilandau said with a soft laugh.

Hitomi felt the skin on the back of her neck prickle at the way he said 'cutting'.

"Then, whatever is easy," Hitomi said stiffly. She had wanted to turn him down, but she found herself unable to. She was starving. It had been hours since her last meal.

Dilandau asked Hitomi to wait in the 'den' as he called it, while he went to procure food. She offered to help him, but he said that he wanted her to relax and absorb her surroundings, so she should stay put.

Hitomi did look around. There was an antelope head mounted on his wall. Even though she was from the country, she was still disgusted. She didn't think putting dead animals on the wall was tasteful even though she knew many men who hunted. She didn't think Dilandau had killed this animal himself, but what if he had? Hitomi shuddered. Maybe it was better if she didn't know.

So, Hitomi waited. The fire cracked and sparked and she thought about the room and what it said about the person who lived there. Hitomi didn't think Dilandau was that shallow. He definitely appreciated wealth, but this kind of culture was simply beyond her experience. She didn't think it was Dilandau's intention to make her feel naive, but having her sit in this room was reminding her how inexperienced she was. She had probably bitten off more than she could chew following Dilandau home.

It was during this conversation with herself that Dilandau came back into the room carrying a tray, which he sat down on a coffee table. Hitomi thought about Van's stir-fry and examined what Dilandau had created. There was a glass dish with shrimp and cocktail sauce, three different kinds of cheeses on a plate, and a myriad of sliced fruit organized on different plate. Yeah, he definitely knew how to cut.

"I've missed the last thing," he said blithely as he quickly returned to the kitchen. He came back with a bottle of tonic water and two Champaign glasses. "Did I get your tastes right?" he asked as he unscrewed the top of the tonic water.

Hitomi smiled and searched the tray for crackers. Noticing there weren't any and she found the nerve to complain. "Don't rich people eat crackers?" she asked, picking up a piece of cheese and putting it in her mouth.

"Of course," Dilandau laughed. "How thoughtless of me. I'll be right back."

Apparently, he thought her demanding crackers was adorable, and Hitomi wondered if she could do anything that would turn this guy off. Well, once both of them spilled their guts, then he would see how poorly the two of them matched up. Hitomi was sure of this.

When he came back, they began eating together. Dilandau sat on the floor with his back to an armchair. That way the light from the fireplace illuminated one half of his face and the other half was left in shadow. Hitomi thought that maybe it was intentional. He also undid the top two buttons on his shirt. Maybe his collar was choking him – maybe.

"I said that I wanted to tell you my motivation behind making you a model. You must be able to guess one of the reasons," he said simply.

Hitomi couldn't forget that he had interrupted her date with Van no less than an hour ago so that Celena could spend some quality time with her object of desire. "Naturally, you still haven't squared things off with Celena, so you're still doing her bidding," Hitomi answered.

"Yes."

"Care to explain why you owe her?" Hitomi asked.

"She wouldn't like that," he said, biting into a shrimp and ripping off the tail. "Besides, it has nothing to do with our current situation."

"Fine," Hitomi agreed, sounding like cool headed 'Tomi', even though she was dressed like 'Hitomi'. "But she likes Van for some reason and will be contented with no other man. You are willing to help her because she's blackmailing you and so you casually offer me five hundred dollars to leave his apartment – which you still haven't paid me," she reminded him casually.

"I'll pay you when I drop you off," Dilandau said. He even looked impressed that she hadn't forgotten about the money. "Yes, Celena is quite crazy about Van. I can't see the reason myself, but-"

"She isn't going to get him," Hitomi interrupted.

"You're going to get in the way?" Dilandau asked, looking intrigued.

"No," Hitomi said shortly. "She's just assuming that I'm the barrier that's stopping her from getting him. In reality, it has nothing to do with me. He may have used me as a scapegoat to explain his waning interest, but it's nothing but a pretense. It won't matter how many of his girlfriends you dispose of – he's not interested in her."

"Well," Dilandau said, raising his eyebrows. "What can we do to _make_ him interested in her?"

"What? You can't seriously be asking me how to get him to fall for her."

"Why not? I think you have the skills to teach her how to make him be interested in her."

"Even if I do - like she would take advice from me!" Hitomi exclaimed as she rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't thinking that you'd give her hints directly. You'd give them to me and I'd relay them to her."

"Without telling her where they came from," she finished for him.

"Basically."

A brief silence passed before Hitomi said, "Look, it's too late. He already has established ideas about Celena and her personality. There's no chance for a first impression or the thrill of meeting someone new. If she started using feminine wiles on him at this point, it would look out of character. He's just not interested. I think your time would be better spent trying to get her to land someone new."

Dilandau cleared his throat and said stiffly, "You think I haven't tried that? It's Van or it's no one."

"Well, what have you tried, besides repeatedly buying me? To be honest, I think you're backing into this from the wrong angle."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, just think. Has Celena ever been romanced? Has a man ever treated her the way I treated you on Valentine's Day? Has anyone ever gone out of their way to make her feel special and sexy?"

"I don't know," he answered slowly.

"If I were you, I'd hire a male escort for her, tell her it's a blind date, and give the escort specific instructions on how to treat her."

"That's no good. What if she falls in love with the escort?"

Hitomi sighed. "That's not the issue. The escort would merely be a transition man to get her heart off Van. If she notices how the escort treats her compared to Van (who doesn't do her any favours), then maybe she'll break out of her shell a little and start to think about other men. Ever think about that? And on the plus side, if charming Van happens to see her with another man and experiences a twinge of jealousy then maybe your job will be over and she'll get him in the end anyway." Hitomi couldn't read the expression on Dilandau's face, but the more she thought about this the more she thought that it was a good idea. "I think it would work even better if you didn't always hire the same escort as well and instructed each of them to act slightly differently towards her - equally as sweet, of course."

"That's an interesting idea," Dilandau said as he flicked his hair away from his eyes. "Except that I don't really have the time to set all that up. Do you think you could help me?"

"Now I'm _your_ personal assistant instead of Van's? No thanks. I already have three jobs and apparently, I work weekends," Hitomi said, indicating that she was working at this moment.

"Do you know?" he drawled. "I love every word that comes out of your mouth. That is a perfect solution to all this. If you became my personal assistant, I feel positive that we could accomplish so much together."

"Please don't get excited," Hitomi murmured, putting her hand to her forehead. "I'm not going to stop working for Van."

"Why not? I'll pay you-"

"I don't care about that," she interrupted. "I'm afraid that once I started working for you, you'd see how inexperienced I truly am. I might have come up with a few ideas you liked just now, but I'm not qualified to serve your every need. It might surprise you, but I don't know a lot about my profession yet. I'm an entry-level assistant. I only graduated from college in April. And," Hitomi said, grasping for ideas that would convince him how unfit she was. "I don't even know what kind of cheese this is," she said, picking up a chunk. "So just forget about it."

"Hmm," he hummed - thinking. "Well, I see what you're saying, but I still think you would make an incredible assistant," he said at last.

"So, do you want to tell me the real reason why you set me up with this modeling job?" Hitomi asked, basically ignoring what he said. She had things she wanted to learn from him during this interview as well.

Dilandau sighed. It was the most human gesture Hitomi had ever seen him perform. "Well, there were a couple reasons. But I'm not confident that I can explain my reasoning without hearing one thing from you."

"What's that?"

"Do you have a sincere interest in Van? If he gave you the opportunity, would you go for him?" Dilandau asked looking at her face carefully.

Hitomi's mouth hung open for an instant. She wasn't sure how to answer him, but listening to Van talk his way out far harder situations had paid off and a plausable answer came to her mind. "So far, he hasn't treated me very well. He should have sent Celena away when she showed up on his doorstep. The fact that he didn't when he was entertaining me was seriously offensive. I don't know if I want a guy who lets a girl he's not interested in walk all over him."

"Don't like playing second fiddle?" Dilandau asked.

"No."

"Neither do I," Dilandau said quietly. "But since you showed up - I feel like you are more interested in him ... even though the two of us seem to have a certain connection."

Hitomi was touched by his voice and found a lump growing in her throat, but she still had to say what she felt. This was her way of spilling her guts. "You must know that I can generate that connection with anyone. It's part of my job when I work as an escort. You have to be intelligent enough to know the name of that game."

"I know," he said, nodding his head. "I know, but somehow - that makes it even better."

How could she answer that? A moment of silence followed before Hitomi cleared her throat and asked seriously, "Are you going to explain your other reasons for trying to make me a model."

Dilandau took a slow drink from his goblet before he answered steadily, "Certainly. You see, my dear brother Allen is a very talented model, but representing him lately has been a rather unpleasant job. He's not an easy man to work with. You saw how cross he became back at the Dryden's office today. He's tempramental. In the past, his work has been so flawless that the hassle of having him pose has been worth it, but ... his work hasn't been so absolutely flawless in the last year as to make him irreplacable. Since his last photos came out, some of his clients are seriously looking at getting someone new. For me, it's okay if Allen retires if he's tired of the business or even if he's got something else he wants to do. It's not okay for his popularity to dwindle and his work requests to disappear. I was thinking that if I got you to model with him for this campaign then maybe I could raise his stock and improve his reputation. You could tell a few reporters how much fun he was to work with, and I would be spared hours on the phone explaining to photographers that he's become more flexible. Right now, some of them refuse to work with him."

"What about Dryden? Doesn't he mind?" Hitomi asked.

"Dryden isn't afraid of Allen's tantrums and he enjoys making him uncomfortable."

"This should be interesting," Hitomi groaned, thinking of how much fun it was really going to be to model with Allen.

"Look, I wouldn't have recommended you for this if I didn't think you could do it. It might surprise you, but I am a hell of a lot scarier than Allen (though most people we work with don't know it). I wouldn't have been able to push Allen up as far as I have if I wasn't able to bully him myself. Trust me, if you can handle me, you can handle him."

"Okay," Hitomi said, expelling a heavy breath. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"I think I'm in love with you."

* * *

Author's Notes: So, my lappy had to go away for service and I somehow didn't get Word installed on it when it came back. So, not only this not been beta read, but the last half hasn't even been spell checked with a word processor. I'm not a terrific speller, so this is just my best guess on spelling. I apologize. If even one person complains about mistakes they're dead. I'm also still deathly ill. I know - I've been sick for months. Sorry kids. Thank you to everyone who reads. Thank you! 


	9. On the Couch

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. I'm just borrowing the characters to that I can market a story to interested audiences.

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**Chapter Nine**

**On the Couch**

Hitomi pushed the door to her apartment open a little after midnight. She thought she was going to have to stay out with Dilandau until dawn, but luckily, he believed her when she told him she was really tired after spending all week getting ready for her interview with Allen. So, he took her home. He clearly knew how hard the week had been on her after a little explanation of Merle's schedule, unlike Van – who didn't know anything about women. When Hitomi thought about it on the car ride home, she wasn't sure if she preferred a guy who was so inexperienced with women that he couldn't guess what she looked like without makeup, or a guy who knew everything and therefore knew how to coddle her like a princess.

She also didn't know what to make of Dilandau's confession. She didn't know if he meant it or if he was just playing some game with her. She'd have to put the idea on the shelf and wait to see what his behaviour towards her was like in the future. There was something appealing about being treated like a goddess. She wondered if Dilandau had the ability to make her feel like that – the way she'd made so many men feel working as an escort - but no one had ever made her feel that way herself. At least he wasn't pushy. He hadn't grabbed her or forced her into anything – not even when he slid five crisp hundred dollar bills in her hand when they said 'good-bye'.

"Thanks," she had said to him as she opened the car door.

"Good night Tomi," he said. He was sans sunglasses now and the look on his face was so tender.

Hitomi wanted to tell him that no one ever called her 'Tomi' when she wasn't an escort, but then when she looked at him, she realized that he wasn't calling her by her name. For him, it was the same as if he had called her 'darling' or 'sweetheart'. She didn't know what to say. In the end, she bit her lip and shut the car door as quietly as possible before heading towards the entrance of her building.

The T.V. was flickering when Hitomi entered her apartment. Merle's work must have ended early if she was home watching television.

"I'm home," Hitomi called into the living room as she kicked off her shoes.

"Have a good night?" a deep male voice called from the living room couch.

Hitomi froze in her footprints. If she wasn't crazy, then Van was waiting for her. Hitomi shook her head. She must be hallucinating. Van wouldn't actually have come to her apartment, would he? Hitomi unfroze herself and popped her head around the corner. Sure enough, he was sitting on the couch. He had Merle's afghan over his knees and he was holding the remote control.

"Van!" Hitomi exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" she blurted.

"You said that I should call you next time I happened to have some spare time. Well, after Celena left, I had some spare time, so I called," he said easily.

"And? That still doesn't explain why you're watching late-night T.V. in my living room."

"You weren't home, but your cousin Merle was. She's a charmer, isn't she? When I gave her my name, she suggested that maybe I should come over and wait for you to get back."

"You mean … Merle's not here?" Hitomi gaped.

"No, she's out on a job."

Hitomi looked at Van. Yes, she wanted to see him, but hadn't she suffered enough? That day had been the longest day in Hitomi's history. She'd been under Merle's care until her meeting with Allen. Then she had her polly-wolly-crappy date with Van and then her date/meeting with Dilandau. She was absolutely fried. Even her eyebrow was twitching. Standing there, she had the sudden impulse to throw Van out, but as she looked at him she realized she couldn't do that. He had gone through this trouble to show her that he was sincere. Damn him …

So, instead, Hitomi plopped herself on the couch next to him and said drolly, "Did Merle leave you with any good snacks?"

"She got me a bowl of … HEY! Is that all you have to say after I went through the effort to come here?" he shouted.

Hitomi put her finger to her lips, "Please don't make so much noise. You'll wake the neighbours. Merle will be mad at me if there are complaints."

"What! How can you be thinking about that?"

"Shhhh … Pass me those cheesies and let's find something good to watch."

"But weren't we supposed to be getting to know each other on a more honest level?" he asked, actually having the nerve to get up from the couch and bring her a pop from the fridge even though it was his first time visiting.

"Thanks," Hitomi said snuggling down with the root beer and not answering his question.

He stood, hovering above her, waiting for her answer.

"You read my mind. If I'm going to eat these, then I need a drink." She popped a cheesie into her mouth.

He still didn't budge.

Finally, Hitomi felt like she had to give in. She rolled her eyes and said, "Look Van, it's after midnight. I'm exhausted. It has been such a hard day. Can't you just curl up on the couch with me, maybe put your arm around my shoulders if you feel like it, eat junk, laugh at stupid stuff, and just relax? I can't have that serious conversation right now. I don't even think I'm capable of coherent thought right now. Can't you just mellow?"

"I can put my arm around you?" he asked cautiously.

"Why not?" Hitomi retorted. "You've already done way more than that with me," Hitomi said, thinking of the New Year's party and their kiss.

He shook his head. "I know. It's just that I thought that maybe you wouldn't want me to touch you."

"If there's a reason for that, I can't think of it right now," Hitomi answered. Her mind was a complete blank.

"Aren't you mad at me because of what happened with Celena tonight?"

"Oh yeah," she said. Van had invited Celena in to have dinner with them without asking Hitomi if she was okay with it. Hitomi shook her head. "Yeah, you are pretty rotten. But … that's okay," she yawned. "We'll talk about it later."

Van looked confused. "So for now, you just want me to sit on the couch, cuddle with you and watch T.V.?"

"I've got too much on my mind right now to let you complicate it with more nonsense. We can have a serious talk about everything later, but right now, I'm tired." She paused. After thinking for a second more, she added, "And I want to rest my head on your shoulder and don't you dare try to attach strings to it."

Van looked more confused than ever. "Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm not drunk," Hitomi fumed. She wasn't sure if he was trying to make a joke. "I don't drink – ever. I'm just past my threshold. Did you know that sleep deprivation is a form of torture? I'm exhausted."

Van didn't say anything else, but obediently sat down on the couch and put his arm around Hitomi's shoulders. She immediately put her legs over his lap and pulled the afghan over both of them. Hitomi was used to sleeping with the radio playing, so the noise from the T.V. didn't bother her as she rested her head half on the couch and half on Van's arm.

Hitomi didn't start to have doubts about the intelligence of falling asleep in his arms until it was too late for her to struggle against it. She thought to herself that she should really get up and send him home or toddle off to her own bedroom and leave him to sleep on the couch, but she was too tired to talk. Her last thought before she fell asleep was of the cologne he was wearing. What was it called again?

* * *

Hitomi woke up to the sound of the phone ringing next to her ear. Some thoughtless person had left it on the side table next to the couch rather than putting it back on the cradle. Hitomi fumbled around for it, but knocked in onto the floor. It was Saturday and it felt too early for anyone to be calling them. Hitomi saw Van's slender brown hand pick up the phone effortlessly through slitted eyelids. So, he hadn't gone home.

"Hello," he answered calmly.

Hitomi flinched. What gave him the right to answer their phone? Especially so early in the morning? What if it was her mother calling? But all the same, Hitomi was still nine tenths asleep and she didn't much care. He could come up with something to cover his can if her mother jumped down his throat, couldn't he? Wasn't that what public relations were all about? Hitomi rolled over.

"No Celena, I can't do anything today," he paused.

When she heard Van say that, Hitomi flipped to only one tenths asleep and listened carefully to what he was saying. It was at this point that she woke up enough to realize that the phone that rang wasn't her home phone, but Van's cell phone.

"No, it doesn't bother me," he continued. "You can date whoever you like." There was another pause as Celena answered him. "If Dilandau found a guy who he thinks would interest you, then you should go on the date and see how it turns out. You might end up really liking him."

Hitomi sat bolt upright and looked at Van. What was he saying? That Dilandau was setting Celena up with someone? Wow, Dil didn't waste any time on that suggestion now, did he?

Van had his back turned to Hitomi as he continued his conversation. It looked like he still thought Hitomi was asleep, because his voice was almost a whisper. "I'm sorry you don't want to date anyone other than me, but … Celena, how many times do we have to have this conversation? I'm tired of offering excuses. Please, just give up on me." He paused again. "No, this doesn't have anything to do with Hitomi. I just …" he was interrupted.

It was awhile before he had the chance to talk again. Hitomi waited tensely for his next words.

"Please don't cry," he said gently. "No, I don't think there is anything you could do to change my mind … I said I don't want to talk about this anymore. Just please believe me when I say that I'll never change my mind, but I'll always be grateful for our friendship."

Hitomi had never been dumped as harshly as Van was dumping Celena. At first, she felt proud of him for finally saying what he had been thinking all along, but it didn't take long for that feeling to wear off. It was obvious that this wasn't the first time he had this conversation with Celena. It probably wasn't the second time either … and Celena was crying on the other end of the phone. Self assured Celena from Financial Services was actually shedding tears because Van didn't love her the way she loved him. Hitomi couldn't imagine liking someone that much. She had certainly never felt that way. She wondered if she ever could feel that way.

"I'm sorry," Van said, clearly finishing up the conversation. "Please stop crying and let's try to talk normally when we see each other at the office, okay? Let's not let that part be awkward." There was another pause before he finally said mildly, "Good bye."

Hitomi put her hand to her mouth and shook her head. This was a bad situation.

Van clicked his cell phone shut and turned around to meet Hitomi's gaze. "Did you hear all of that?" he slowly questioned.

"Yeah," she mumbled, looking out the window.

"Did it bother you?" he asked.

"A little, but don't worry about me. You've already told me that I'm not the reason you're rejecting her, so I don't feel responsible. It's just a shame that her feelings had to be hurt. That's all."

He squinted and brought his eyebrows together in a line. "Hitomi, I don't understand you. Wasn't the reason you took off your makeup in front of me because you didn't want your escort glamour tainting my feelings for you? Because you wanted me to fall in love with the real you? If you want to date me yourself, then why do you feel sorry for Celena?"

"You wouldn't fall in love with me, Van. The real me isn't flirty, or frilly, or vivacious. The real me is more like what you saw last night. I'm not the type to really manipulate a guy into treating me the way I him to. That's just an act Merle taught me so that I could work as an escort. You probably want a woman who pouts her lips, has to have her way, wears pretty clothes and bothers to dress up for you every day of her life. What I really want is just to be able to say what I want, to say what I don't want, dress the way I want, cut my hair the way I want and basically to just be direct and honest. I never thought that you would fall in love with me. You are stacked up to your chin in class and you want a woman who can match you. I never could."

"So, you're not interested in me like that?" he asked pensively.

"No – that's not it," Hitomi denied fiercely. "You have got to be the hottest man I have ever seen in real life. Everything about you makes it seem like you were designed to break my heart, but just by looking at you – I know that it's a dream. There's no way you could care for me the way I truly am. I'm the type who drools over you in my cubical while you are the type to date a woman with real eyelashes, flowing hair, and a body that would make grown men cry. Do you know what I'm saying?"

Van plopped himself down on Merle's recliner and looked bored. "It sounds like you're spouting the most elaborate load of B.S. I've ever heard. What happened after you left with Dilandau last night? It must have been something terrific for you to change your tune so drastically."

"I'm not 'changing my tune'," Hitomi almost shrieked. "Besides I didn't act differently after I met with him and found you in my living room, now did I?"

"Well, you didn't want to have our 'serious' conversation and … you fell asleep on my arm," he reminded her. "That wasn't my idea. I'm almost starting to feel like your whore, or at least I already feel like I was merely a tool you used at your convenience."

Hitomi's mouth fell open. She had never been accused of using a man before for her own purposes. "I didn't …"

But Van interrupted her. "Listen," he said stiffly. "There is one way to test out the waters of your little theory about the 'type' of person I am, since you clearly don't know me well enough."

Hitomi was ultimately perplexed. What the heck was he about to suggest?

"And that's if you agree to be my girlfriend. Then we'll see how much of what you said is fact or fiction."

Hitomi flushed, but managed to say nicely, "There's just one thing I want to know before I answer that question. How will it go at work if we start seeing each other?"

Van shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing will change."

"Are you sure?" she demanded sternly. "You were pretty freaked out before when you were worried that there would be a scandal."

"Yeah, I was, but I see now that was pretty immature of me. Trust me; there won't be any trouble with Dryden."

"How can you be so sure?"

Van sighed. "Because he already thinks we're dating."

Hitomi's mouth fell open and stayed open. What had Van done? This didn't fit in with the picture she had drawn up of him. She didn't know what to say, but at last she found her voice enough to ask, "And how did he get that idea?"

Van shrugged. "He just assumed after that first time we met in his office."

"And you didn't correct him?" Hitomi blurted.

"Why would I correct him when I do want to date you?" he said evenly, meeting her eyes with his steady gaze.

Hitomi's heart fluttered. She was speechless.

Van lifted himself out of the recliner and came over to the couch. He got down on his knees in front of her and put one arm on either side of her. Their eyes met. "Hitomi," he said quietly. "Sorry, I accused you of using me. I don't feel used. It was cute for you to fall asleep on me. I want you to do it again … tonight … tomorrow night – anytime you want. Just pull down your careful little layers of reserve for me – just for a little while – and we'll learn all about each other."

His voice was so persuasive and even though Hitomi was certain that this was going to turn out to be a fatal mistake, she couldn't resist nodding her head and letting him take her out for breakfast.

* * *

Author's Notes: I'm still not quite well yet which is why I haven't been updating on a regular basis and why I haven't been working on my legendary story 'Ghost Mist' (I know that it might not be exactly legendary, but it's at least serious - which this isn't). Anyway, I've had no beta reader and I've only read through this three times myself, so there might be lots of mistakes. I'm sorry if there are. Yeah. So sorry.

Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. I've been really impressed at how many people have shown an interest in it. It's for you wonderful people that I'm updating today. So, if this is a fun read for you - please review. Thanks!


	10. The Perfect Man

Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne, but I wrote this story.

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**Chapter Ten**

**The Perfect Man**

Hitomi sat across from Van in a tiny booth in a downtown diner. She had never been taken out for breakfast before, so being there with him was a totally new experience for her. She ordered pancakes and drummed her fingers impatiently on the surface of the table while Van looked over the complimentary newspaper.

He looked up at her quizzically. "You seem nervous. What's the matter?"

"You're an idiot," she blurted.

Van's eyebrows flew up and he started laughing. "Really?" he asked, hardly able to keep his mirth in check. "You know, Hitomi, you have this way of lashing out at me for no explainable reason. At least, that's how it seems to me. It's intriguing. So tell me, why am I an idiot?"

"I already explained that dating you would be like a dream come true for me. I know you don't believe me, but it feels one hundred percent impossible for us to be sitting all chummy like this at a restaurant. It's especially weird that you asked me out at all – I'm still having a hard time believing it. Sorry if I feel like I've been dropped on my butt, but I'm still recovering from the shock."

"You're a weird girl. Can't you just be happy that something so stupendous has happened to you?" he asked sarcastically, like he didn't believe for one second that it was honestly a dream come true for her for them to be a couple. "From my perspective, I practically had to hunt you and even still, you might split at any moment. I was thinking before we left your apartment that I might have to tie you up to get you to give me a chance."

Hitomi rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you're still thinking that I'm Tomi, the escort, and that it's impossible for you to get me. I keep telling you – that's not me. If you asked me to marry you today, I'd take you up on it … if I wasn't absolutely certain that you harbour some dang funny ideas about me. Once you get to know the real me, you're going to change your mind about all this. You're going to feel awfully stupid when you realize that you have to dump me because I'm not what you thought I was. But don't you worry; I won't even say 'I told you so'."

"Okay," he drawled disbelievingly as he picked up the paper again and hurried through to the business section. He scanned through the headlines quickly and then folded up the paper and put it behind the menu stand. Hitomi had already spent enough time with him professionally to know there was no way he could miss checking out the business section no matter what was happening in front of his face. "I think you're wrong," he said finally. "But let's not talk about this anymore. I still have a lot I want to learn about you and if you keep yowling that we're not right for each other, I'll never learn anything."

"What do you want to know?"

Van clicked his tongue on his front teeth and leaned forward with his elbows on the table. "What happened with Dilandau last night?"

Hitomi frowned. She should have known he would ask something like that instead of something about her. How could she answer him? It seemed like a bad idea to tell him that Dilandau offered her five hundred dollars to ditch him the night before, and that she had taken it. Likewise it seemed stupid to tell him that Dilandau had asked her to take a job as his personal assistant and that he'd told her that he loved her. Ouch! She'd forgotten all about that until this very second. Hitomi's frown deepened. And then there was Celena's involvement in all this. Hitomi still believed that Dilandau wouldn't have gone this far for her if Celena hadn't asked him to. Since he owed her he had to do what she said. Hitomi bit her lip and prepared to answer Van's question.

"I'm not a tattle tale. Besides it doesn't matter anymore," she said.

"I don't think I understand what you mean."  
Hitomi sighed. Van had been there through those two dates that Dilandau paid for her. Maybe he already knew how vindictive Celena was, but his behaviour the night before when he wouldn't send Celena away indicated that he didn't. Hitomi would have to probe him for information before she gave any up. "How much do you know about Dilandau and Celena?" she asked cautiously.

"They're twins. Allen is their older brother, but I was under the impression that they were only born about thirteen months apart, so in many ways – they are all the same age. I've only known Celena for about a year and a half," he paused. "I'm not sure what else to say. I already told you that I find her hopelessly programmed. As for Dilandau, I have only met him on half a dozen occasions, but he strikes me as an incredibly tough character. He'd have to be to put up with Allen."

Hitomi nodded and began to say slowly, "Do you think that it was a coincidence that Dilandau asked for me to be his date on Valentine's Day?"

"Huh?" Van gaped.

"Celena asked him to hire me so that you wouldn't be able to. Didn't you know that?"

Van looked like there was suddenly something sour in his mouth. "I _should_ have known."

Suddenly Hitomi's heart took courage and she had the urge to tell Van something else. "That was what Dilandau wanted to talk to me about last night. He wanted to ask me about the best strategies to either get you to fall in love with Celena or to get her to change her mind about you."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that there was no way that any amount of time or inducement would convince you change your mind about her. I advised him to hire a male escort for her. From your conversation with her this morning, it sounds like Dilandau has already taken my suggestion seriously and arranged a date for her."

Van gaped. "You can't be serious."

"I am. Professionally, I thought that would be the best solution. Not because I want you myself, but because you don't treat Celena very well. I thought that if she was taken out by a heart throb who treated her like a goddess then she'd realize the distinction between your feelings for her and concentrated consideration."

Van's face became clouded and Hitomi was positive that she'd offended him.

"Please try not to take that the wrong way," she said quickly. "It's just that you're not interested in her and you don't really treat her like you are. I mean, have you ever volunteered to make supper for her?"

"No."

"That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. Not that you're a jerk or that you don't know how to treat your date properly. I think you do. It's just that it's clear by the way you stared off into space at the restaurant on Valentine's Day that you weren't thinking about her."

"I was thinking about you."

A blush rose on Hitomi's cheeks like a soaring hot air balloon. She didn't know what to say.

"Oh, come on," Van said, examining her expression. "You can't tell me that no one has ever said something like that to you before. You're supposed to be an experienced dater."

Hitomi put a hand to her cheek and glared at him. "Yeah, I keep telling you that that's not the truth about me. And for your information, usually a guy who takes an escort out isn't thinking about how to treat her nice, he's thinking about how she can treat him nice. That's why I thought Celena would do better with a male escort as a rebound board than an ordinary guy. Ordinary guys are stupid."

"Do you know a lot of male escorts?" Van suddenly enquired as their food arrived.

"No. They don't hang around the shop much. I think it embarrasses them. The girls like hanging out and talking, whereas the guys like to be on the other side of the world."

"Huh … I wonder what type of guy Dilandau will choose for Celena."

"It would be fun to see who he would choose as the perfect man for her, eh?"

* * *

Hitomi thought that Van probably intended to spend the whole day with her, but he got an urgent phone call from his brother and had to take off after breakfast. Hitomi knew that she shouldn't feel happy that he was going, but being with him was a little intense and the break would do her a lot of good. When he said good bye to her, he kissed her on the forehead unassumingly and told her that he wanted to take her out for dinner that night, so she shouldn't schedule anything. His business with his brother wouldn't take all day.

When she came into the apartment, Merle was on the phone laughing her head off. "Hitomi, get in here," she yelled.

"What is it?"

Merle took the phone away from her ear and said merrily, "You just keep getting into trouble, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Hitomi questioned.

"Has your little pet boy gone home for the day?" Merle asked, putting the phone's antenna in her mouth.

"'Little pet boy'," Hitomi quoted, her eyes wide. She couldn't believe that Merle had the nerve to refer to startlingly hot Van that way, but apparently …

"Yeah, is he gone?"

"Yes," Hitomi answered sternly.

"Well, then maybe you can help a certain gentleman down at the escort service. Apparently, he's trying to pick a male escort for his sister and he can't sort through the files at all. He says he needs your help or he'll never get anywhere. Feel like helping him out?"

Hitomi's eyes bugged out. How could she possibly weasel out of this one?

"I'll drive you," Merle said supportively even though she was clearly making fun of Hitomi. She was smiling like a Cheshire cat and dangling her car keys in her left hand.

Hitomi put a hand to her forehead. She was completely stuck.

* * *

'This shouldn't take too long,' Hitomi told herself as she and Merle drove down to the agency. 'I can just help him with the lineup of guys and then I can go home and get ready to go on my date with Van.'

Once inside, Hitomi saw Dilandau standing at the counter flipping through a laminated catalogue with all the agency's listed escorts. Naturally, the female side of it was much larger than the male, so he was only turning about twenty pages over and over again.

When Hitomi came in, he turned around and said, "Great, Tomi, you're here. I can't look at this at all."

"Why? They're not naked or anything," Hitomi offered unhelpfully as Merle smirked and tottled off to the back.

"Who's that?" Dilandau asked, glancing at Merle. He was completely unrattled by Hitomi's hectoring.

"That's my cousin, Merle. She's an escort here. Didn't you see her profile?" Hitomi asked, taking the catalogue from him and flipping to Merle's page.

"No, I didn't look at the girls."

"But aren't you going on a double date with Celena tonight? Have you already asked a girl to go with you?"

Dilandau was slick as a cat's ear as he responded, "I was going to ask you."

"I'm not in the book anymore," Hitomi answered calmly.

"Does that mean you're unavailable?"

"Yes. But, I will help you pick out a group of escorts for Celena. That sounded like a lot of fun."

"But you won't come with us?"

"No."

"It would make Celena feel better about everything if she knew that you weren't with Van."

"But," Hitomi said before taking a deep breath and continuing with, "I will be with Van, and maybe you should tell her that. The information might help her figure out that Van isn't available anymore."

Dilandau's face became dark. He understood the significance of that statement as he bit, "He sure gets up early in the morning, doesn't he?"

Hitomi suddenly knew that she had definitely slipped up. She should have just let Dilandau find out about her and Van through the office grape vine when the news got to Celena. Instead, she had been honest and Dilandau clearly felt gypped.

"I'm sorry," Hitomi started to say.

Dilandau shrugged his shoulders. "Don't worry about it. Like you said before, Van's not so great. You'll see it once we start working on the ad campaign together. He won't have any idea how to treat you once that ball is rolling. For tonight, I'll take out your cousin Merle, if she's available. She's going to be doing your hair and make up for the ads, isn't she?"

Hitomi nodded.

"Great. I can at least talk shop to her and the evening won't be boring, but I still want you to help me pick out a date for Celena. I think you'll be able to select someone that will really catch her eye."

Hitomi took the catalogue and sat down on one of the waiting chairs with Dilandau beside her. Together, they flipped through the pages. At first, Hitomi didn't think she had a better idea on who to pick than Dilandau would have if he had been left to do it alone.

"Well, we should eliminate all the ones younger than twenty-four," Hitomi said thoughtfully.

"Okay, but that doesn't really leave a whole lot."

"No, it doesn't," Hitomi said, "but we should also eliminate all the guys older than thirty. If he's too much older it'll look strange." Then she opened the rings on the binder and pulled out the remaining sheets.

"That really doesn't leave much," Dilandau said, looking at the profiles.

"Yeah, there are only six left. Let's see, there's Gatty, Dallet, Viole, Miguel, Shesta, and Guimel."

"They sound like a boy band," Dilandau commented crossly, looking away.

"Don't be so depressing. This guy Viole is sort of cute. Clear blue eyes, ponytail, and the sheet says that he likes adventures. I think he'd probably have a hay day with pretty, polished, perfect Celena. Opposites attract, right?"

"I think she'd tell him to get a haircut."

"Okay, then someone more made up. Hmm … what about Guimel?"

Dilandau glanced at the picture. "He's a pretty boy and not only that, but he looks exactly like Celena. I'm in the modeling business and I've never seen a guy with hair like that. Besides, she'd never go for a guy who was a carbon copy of her with a &."

"Right," Hitomi said, stuffing that sheet back into the binder. "Then I think that either Gatty or Miguel are your prime choices, but I happen to know that Miguel is pretty popular and it'll be hard to get him. We'll probably have to schedule him in advance if you want to line him up for a date in the future."

"I want to see how tonight works out before I set up a schedule. I guess we'll go with Gatty," Dilandau said wearily.

Hitomi got up and had a talk with the receptionist, but quickly returned to the chair beside Dilandau. "It looks like Gatty is booked for tonight, and it goes without saying that Miguel is. His schedule is booked solid for the next two weeks."

"Every night for two weeks? What is the man …"

Hitomi interrupted him before he finished that thought, "Look, I saw him once. He clearly knows what he's doing, but he's probably not the best bet for the first night out of the gate. He's too intense and too perfect at what he does. I really think you should book him now, even if tonight doesn't work and get him to take Celena out later on."

"Fine," Dilandau said aggressively, like he was already tired of the escapade. "But who are we going to get for tonight if both those guys are taken?"

"There's Dallet and Shesta, but if Celena doesn't like long hair than Dallet is out. However, I don't think Shesta is such a bad choice. He's blond with big honest eyes. He looks like the boy-next-door, so he's probably had plenty of women cry on him before. I'll bet he knows all about healing a broken heart."

"But is he available?"

The receptionist, obviously listening to their conversation, smiled and said, "Yes, he is. Would you like me to put a request through to him?"

"Right away," Dilandau said impatiently.

"We need to talk to him though," Hitomi interjected as the receptionist started dialing. "He'll be dating a girl with really specific needs and so he has to be careful in the way he treats her."

"How does he need to treat her?" Dilandau asked curiously.

Hitomi thought for a second before she responded, "He needs to know that she's upset about Van and feeling bad. He needs to pay attention to her body language and look carefully into her eyes when she talks about what's wrong like he really wants to hear. Then when he gets a chance to say what he thinks of everything that Van did, he should be really noisy about how he would never treat a woman that way and give a lengthy – descriptive – explanation about how he would treat her if she loved him. And he should bolster her confidence by complimenting her and letting her know how desirable she is."

"Wow …" Dilandau mouthed.

"Then after Shesta," Hitomi continued, "if it works out to your satisfaction, you should get Gatty, but his instructions should be different. He shouldn't be comforting her. If she's constantly being condoled than she won't be able to stop thinking about Van, so her date with Gatty should be all about distraction. You should know the kinds of things that interest her and would get her mind off Van."

"What about her date with Miguel? What should that date be like?"

"Well, I don't think you should double. I think she should go on her own. Miguel is smart. By the end of the night he'll probably have her purring. He should wake her up to the idea that she could be happy and attracted to someone who isn't Van."

"So, what do I do when those three dates are over?"

"Set her up on a date with a guy who isn't an escort and see how it goes."

"And what if she falls in love with one of the escorts and is furious when she can't have him?"

Hitomi sighed. "That's a risk," she stated baldly.

"Okay," the receptionist said. "Shesta's booked."

Dilandau got up and made the final arrangements. He also booked Merle, so everything was good to go. When they were finished, Dilandau said that he had to go. He still had some things to do before the date that night.

"Wait," Hitomi said, calling him back with only her voice. He was such a decisive guy that she wasn't sure if he'd stop, but he did. He carefully turned and looked at her through his yellow tinted glasses. He stood there waiting patiently for what she had to say. "I just wanted to know if you meant what you said earlier."

"About?"

"The photo shoot," Hitomi stammered.

"What about it?"

"It sounded like you weren't going to give up on me."

"I meant it. There's no way you'll still want Van by the end of it. I promise. See ya later, Tomi," he said coolly as he disappeared onto the street.

* * *

Author's Notes: Hiya! I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who reads and reviews. You guys rock my world. I didn't have a beta reader for this chapter, or for any of the other chapters, so if there are errors, please ignore them. I'm still not very well, so even doing this much is a lot for me. In other words, I can't labour forever on something I'm doing for amusement. 


	11. A Photographer is Worth a Thousand Words

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

**A Photographer is Worth a Thousand Words**

Hitomi couldn't get what Dilandau said to her at the escort service out of her head. He said, 'There's no way you'll still want Van by the end of it. I promise.' Where did that kind of arrogance come from? But that wasn't the only problem. It wasn't just Dilandau's attitude that bothered her. It was the simple fact that she knew that what he said was true. It wouldn't take a whole lot to get her to change her mind about Van. She wasn't positive that she and Van were a good match and when Dilandau said those words it felt like he saw straight through her. Naturally, that was an unpleasant sensation.

It wasn't that she wasn't interested in Van – she was. It was just that she always felt like they belonged to such different schools of thought. She couldn't shake the idea that he liked her false face better than herself. She couldn't tell if he was interested in her as a human being, or if he just enjoyed having her around because she could put on a good show.

Dilandau understood that her alter ego wasn't real, and for some weird reason, that made all the difference in the world to Hitomi.

It had only been a few hours since she had agreed to date Van, but already she was feeling like she had made a mistake.

Not that Dilandau was any better – he was clearly the devil – but he made her see that she could get someone who wanted her exactly the way she was. She didn't have to settle for someone who was impressed with false eyelashes.

It wasn't until later in the afternoon that she got a phone call from Van. He explained that he wasn't going to be able to shake off his brother for supper and asked her if she minded if he tagged along with them. Hitomi scratched the back of her neck and said that she didn't mind. She didn't say so, but she thought that this was just an extension his behaviour with Celena the previous evening. Couldn't he explain to one person that he had other plans and they would have to wait?

Needless to say, she didn't put a whole lot of thought or creativity into her attire that night. She put on a pair of blue jeans, layered a low black V-necked shirt with a white tank top, and put on her black boots. She decided that her makeup didn't matter, so she only wore eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss.

When the time came, Hitomi went onto the balcony and watched for Van's car. She was half daydreaming when she spotted something interesting. There was a car pulling into her building's parking lot, but it wasn't Van's Toyota. Instead, it was a Champaign coloured Mercedes convertible and Van was sitting in the passenger's seat. Hitomi's eyebrows went up. The person in the driver's side was apparently his older brother, but … what was he driving? Then Hitomi remembered that Van said that his apartment was actually owned by his older brother and his comments about rich relatives.

Van got out and started walking towards her building.

But Hitomi thought it was stupid for him to ring her bell when she could see him, so she leaned over the balcony railing and yelled, "Hey Van!"

Van craned his head back and looked at her. "Oh hi, Hitomi," he called at half the volume with which she had called him.

"I'll be right down," she yelled even louder. Then she turned around and ran back into the apartment. She grabbed her keys and wallet and chased out the door. Some kinds of youthful exuberance just couldn't be hidden.

Outside the building, Van was leaning casually against the side of the Mercedes with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Hi," Hitomi said as she went over to Van and hugged him briefly.

"Hitomi, I'd like you to meet my brother, Folken," Van said, easily slipping his arm around her waist and turning her to face the driver of the car.

Hitomi smiled politely and said, "Nice to meet you."

Folken took off his sunglasses and extended a hand to Hitomi before he said curtly, "Well, get in Girl, and make sure to sit in the front seat. I'm not escorting the two of your around like I'm your driver."

Van opened the door for Hitomi and saw her seated before he hopped into the back seat. Hitomi couldn't help but wonder if Dilandau would have gotten into the back for her. Somehow she felt like he would have done it, but not without an attitude. His masculine pride wouldn't let him sit in the back.

As Folken drove to the restaurant, Hitomi got a better chance to look at him, but it was hard to look at him without feeling like she was 'checking him out'. Why didn't the man dress properly? He was wearing a white button-up-the-front shirt, which wasn't skanky on its own, unless you happened to forget to do up the top five buttons and Folken had forgotten. He wore several silver coloured chains around his wrist and dog tags around his neck. Hitomi thought that he was almost as handsome as Van, except that his hair was cut so badly. Did anyone still wear their hair so long in the back anymore?

When Folken noticed her looking at him, he quickly asked her, "Is the wind bothering you?"

"No," Hitomi said, turning away and feeling embarrassed that he had caught her looking at him.

"No, I guess it wouldn't. I have a scarf in the glove compartment for women who don't want their hair wrecked, but since you've got a haircut like that, then I guess you don't need it. It's a relief really. I can't stand the complaining."

Hitomi didn't even realise that an open car would destroy a girl's hairdo, but now that she thought about it, she conceded to herself that if she had worn her wig, they would probably have to search for it on the side of the road by now.

"You're not a womanizer, are you?" Hitomi asked him, suddenly flirtatious. Escort habits die hard.

In the back, Van started laughing.

"Shut up," Folken shouted good-naturedly at Van. "For Pete's sake, can't a guy …"

Van shoved his head between their seats. "Open the glove compartment," Van said, "and we'll see if he's a womanizer or not."

"Don't do that," Folken advised, trying feebly to stop Hitomi from getting it open.

But since he couldn't do much while he was driving, Hitomi easily clicked it open. It was crammed full of scarves. Hitomi couldn't resist the urge and started pulling them out to get a better look at them. There were floral designs, stripes, and transparent ones of every colour imaginable. She saw one that was such a pretty colour of emerald green that she stretched it out to have a better look at it only to realize that it wasn't a scarf, but an incredibly brief nightgown.

Folken was watching her out of the corner of his eye, and he started shaking his head unremorsefully as he saw what she discovered. "I forgot that was in there."

Hitomi started cramming them back where they belonged when one of them was torn from her hands and blown out of the top of the car onto the road behind them. "Oops!" she cried.

"No need to worry," Folken said unconcernedly. "I think that one was pantyhose."

"It was NOT!" Hitomi hollered over the wind and trying desperately to see what happened to it.

"Look, we're here," Folken said as he turned the car into the parking lot of the restaurant.

"I don't think that was very funny," Hitomi said getting out of the car. "Whatever happened with that women, you should at least give her her nightgown back."

Folken shook his head thoughtfully, "If only I could remember which girl it belonged to."

"What!" Hitomi exclaimed.

"Folken's not really a man whore," Van said as he pushed her seat forward so that he could get out of the backseat. "He's just teasing you. He's actually a photographer. It might interest you to know that he's the one who'll be doing your campaign with Allen. The nightgown was probably left over from a shoot and got stuffed there because there was no where else to put it."

Hitomi stood with her hands on her hips. She wasn't sure if she believed him. If Folken was really such a chaste guy, she bet he'd have a few more buttons on his shirt done up.

"You're the model who was chosen to pair with Allen?" Folken suddenly asked incredulously.

"Yes," Hitomi answered, taking Van's offered hand and going into the restaurant. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No," Folken said, before he took charge and arranged for a table for them with the hostess. When they sat down at the table he finished his thought by saying, "No, there isn't anything wrong with that. It's just that I had a conversation with Dilandau about who he was hoping they'd get before the decision was made."

"Folken is in town this weekend because he has a meeting with Dryden about the campaign on Monday," Van explained as he picked up Hitomi's menu and cuddled up to her. "What would you like?" he asked. He was clearly trying to draw the conversation away from the topic at hand by distracting her with the menu.

Hitomi looked at him with her lips parted. Suddenly, she didn't know what to do. Should she take Van's suggestion to talk about something else, or ask what Dilandau said? Van wouldn't like it one bit if she_ had_ to know what Dilandau said.

"What are you ordering?" she asked him, almost choking on the words as she said them. Then she took the menu very firmly in her hands and investigated it like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

It was lucky for her that Folken wouldn't let the subject drop. "Wait a second. Tomi is short for Hitomi, right?"

Hitomi nodded and said, "I think I was the only person Dilandau recommended."

"I was expecting someone different," Folken admitted.

Van was annoyed. He clearly didn't want to talk or think about this and he put his arm on the booth above Hitomi rather than holding her. "Fine," he said like he had resigned himself to his fate. "What did Dilly say?"

"Nothing much, but his description kind of indicated someone extremely exotic with a personality strong enough to squelch Allen's."

"Is that even possible?" Van asked.

Folken shrugged his shoulders.

"Is Allen really that hard to work with?" Hitomi asked, remembering what Dilandau had told her back at his apartment.

At first, neither of them looked like they wanted to answer her.

"Come on," she persisted. "It's not like you're telling a journalist who's going to write an article. I'm going to be working with him. It can't be such a bad thing to give me a heads up."

"Regardless, I don't feel comfortable commenting," Folken said stiffly. "It wouldn't be professional, but Van here can say whatever he wants."

"Only as her agent," Van finished, turning a little to look at Hitomi. "Allen has a history of being difficult to work with. He's had trouble working with different photographers and models."

Hitomi frowned, "Well, Dilandau already explained all that to me. I was sort of hoping that you could give me an example of bad behaviour."

"You'll just have to wait and see," Folken said. "No doubt it'll be a surprise, but don't worry; Van and I will be there to protect you – Dilandau too. I'm sure he doesn't want a blood bath any more than the rest of us."

Hitomi looked at the menu, but she couldn't focus on it. Dilandau thought she would make a good model because she would be able to sense what the photographer wanted and if Folken was the photographer then it would be what _he _wanted. Suddenly, she thought to start asking him questions.

"What sort of concept do you envision for the ad campaign?" she asked, looking across the table at Folken.

Folken appeared amused as he answered, "Well, I haven't got all my thoughts together yet. My meeting with Dryden isn't until Monday and I have to work with what he has in mind."

Hitomi nodded thoughtfully and said, "Sorry, you probably don't want to talk about it on a Friday night when you're not supposed to be working, but I have never posed as a model before and I'm really worried that I won't be able to deliver quality shots."

Folken smiled and examined his menu, "Yeah, I heard that you worked as an escort. That's a very interesting profession, but if you can satisfy Dilandau that you can do it then you probably can. He knows a lot about this business."

"Do you look down on me, because that's how I decided to put myself through school?" she asked abruptly, because it seemed like he might be laughing at her.

Folken cleared his throat and answered steadily, "Well, I've done a lot of campaigns where it felt like the product being sold was sex. I can't say I'm comfortable with that kind of business, but at least I know that my models are only on paper and no one believes for one second that they can actually be with one of them. The business of escorting someone seems different. Van explained your agency's regulations and so I'm satisfied that you weren't a prostitute, but it seems to me that your business takes something like the image I create and takes it to a different level – to a real person that a customer can see and touch. That's the part that makes me uncomfortable, because it's no different in actuality than what I do, because no one can actually be with their escort. It's just a game, but after the experience is over, the customer has a memory of a real woman who held his hand and danced with him. He can remember her fragrance and the feel of her breath on his cheek. It would be hard for a lonely man to put the memory aside and he may never get someone equal to the escort in a real relationship. The damage might be irreparable. To put it bluntly, it seems like a dangerous game to me."

"How would you know how a lonely man feels? You probably have all sorts of desirable women fighting for your attention daily," Hitomi countered.

Folken inclined his head like he agreed, but then he said, "Yeah, a model can act like she's made of gold when she's in front of a camera lens, just like you can act like you enjoy the company of the man you're escorting, but the truth behind the façade is seldom as pleasant as the act. Needless to say, I don't care for models. My last two girlfriends were personal assistants without the faintest hope of becoming models themselves. And even though neither of those relationships worked out, at least I never wonder whether they really cared for me. They were honest women without the slightest hint of pretension."

"Then you do look down on me," Hitomi finished, fighting to get control of her emotions. It would be terrible if she cried.

"Not at all," Folken said, reaching across the table and grasping Hitomi's fingers. "Van told me about the trick you pulled over at the apartment when you took off your wig and were determined that he should know you for who you truly are. As long as you can keep sight of that, then you haven't compromised what's real for the synthetic." Then he let go of her hand and said smoothly, "I think I'll have the prime rib. Have you decided what you want, Van?"

After that, that particular conversation was over.

* * *

When Van dropped Hitomi off at her apartment he stopped in front of her door and said, "Now you see why I couldn't leave Folken at home tonight. He was one hundred percent determined to meet you."

"He wanted to see what kind of girl I was?" Hitomi questioned, now positive that Folken's speech had only been to ensure that Van wasn't going to get jerked around by a bratty girl. It made her less angry at him and more sensible to his good points, even if she found his immodesty embarrassing.

"Something like that," Van said, scratching the bridge of his nose. "Sometimes he's not a very reasonable guy. I wanted to be alone with you tonight. I'm sorry that our date was messed up by bringing him. I wish there was something I could do to make it up to you."

"It's okay, Van. We see each other all the time. I'm your assistant, remember? And as long as Fanel boys have a thing for personal assistants, then I'm in, right?"

"But I feel like everything and everyone are conspiring to keep us apart."

At that exact moment Folken honked his car horn to hurry Van.

"See what I mean?" Van complained. His eyes looked tired. "Can I see you tomorrow?" he asked, taking hold of her hands.

Hitomi didn't want to appear like she was thinking about it, but she was. She was exhausted from the weekend's activities. Finally, she answered, "As long as you don't have anything grandiose planned. I'm really tired and I need to mellow or I'm not going to be any good to you at work on Monday."

Van smiled and said gently, "How about a date in a hammock with a cold drink and a book."

"Are you going to supply all that?" Hitomi asked.

He put his arms around her, "Just so long as you realize you won't be in that hammock alone. You can even nap if you want to. I'll let you use my arm as a pillow," he offered tantalizingly.

Hitomi felt the blood rushing to her cheeks. He was trying so hard to be nice to her. It was really irresistible. "If that's what you have in mind, then you can come get me whenever you want."

"Good," he said, as he bent down to kiss her.

* * *

Author's Notes: Hiya! It seems like the race is on. Half of you seem like you want Hitomi to get with Dilandau and the other half seem like they're rooting for Van. It makes everyone's reviews very interesting. Well, I'm still sick and I haven't had a beta reader. You know what that means. It means that there may be all kinds of mistakes in this story. Some of them may even be extremely humiliating. Feel free to point them out, but I probably won't change anything. I'm cold and hungry and there are wolves after me ... or something like that. Anyway, thanks everyone who reviews. I LOVE feedback and I love it when people just drop me lines to let me know that they are excited about the story. It reminds me to get moving when I'm very tired - like now. 


	12. Model without a Cause

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

**Model without a Cause**

"Okay everybody!" Dryden boomed at the front of the darkened boardroom. "As you all know, we are going to be advertising Capier Corporation's brand new line of cell phones products called Clickmark." A picture of a mauve coloured cell phone appeared on the screen along with a list of features. "This is the concept I have in mind for the campaign. The setting will be an urban metropolis. I want the campaign to follow a basic storyline, with maybe three or four still pictures that will comprise the plot. If the layouts look good enough to impress the big wigs, we'll start production on a commercial before the still photos are released. Hopefully, we'll be all ready to go by the beginning of November – just in time for Christmas."

Hitomi shifted in her seat. For some reason, she wasn't feeling very comfortable. Maybe it was the fact that she was jammed between Dilandau and Van at the furthest arch of the oval shaped table. She could hardly see Dryden's face and she was having a devil of a time listening to him. Van was fidgeting, shifting his weight, and glancing over at Dilandau every ten seconds. Whereas Dilandau was sitting perfectly still. One of his hands sprawled across the side of his face like a spider. He was biting on his pinkie finger. Apparently, he wasn't having as much trouble concentrating as Hitomi and Van, but even so, Hitomi had this odd feeling that he wasn't thinking about Dryden's presentation. He had probably sat through a million such meetings. Instead, Hitomi felt like he was only thinking about her.

When Dilandau caught her looking at her, he purposefully turned his head and winked at her. Then he resumed his thoughtful pose when Hitomi looked away.

Other than Van and Dilandau, there were a lot of other people at the table as well. Allen and Folken sitting together on the other side of Dilandau and then there was Merle (who had gotten the job as Hitomi's make-up artist at Dilandau's insistence). Then there was a costume designer, another makeup artist for Allen, two of Folken's assistants (one of which was an extremely smart looking girl in her mid twenties), Dryden's assistant, and one or two other people that Hitomi couldn't account for. It was a full house and she was the star of the show.

At least, she felt like the star of the show. She had to dress up as Tomi for their only full meeting before shooting. It almost felt like a dress rehearsal even though she had no lines and the only thing she had to do was basically show up. It seemed like everyone else had something important that only they could do. She felt like she was a blank piece of paper that needed someone else to write on her before she would be of any value. And yet – she was the star and receiving far more attention than Allen – who was a pro in this business. Hitomi wasn't sure, but she thought he looked resentful.

Up at the front, Dryden continued, "Tomi and Allen will be in the role of lovers playing hide and seek in the city with our new line of products. We hope to make it playful and sexy with an emphasis on the feelings of excitement a young woman could get when the guy she wants gives her a call on her cell phone. These are cute phones and we want the female market from teens to grandmas. It's Allen's job to look like the unattainable guy who suddenly can't wait longer than twenty seconds to call Tomi. He's _that_ attracted to her. It's Tomi's job to look like the girl who's bursting out of her skin at the mere idea of our darling Allen calling before three days have eclipsed."

"So, this is like the … opposite of reality?" Hitomi burst, unable to control herself. She doubted Allen would call her after three months, let alone the standard three days.

A flurry of laughs erupted along both sides of the table.

"What are you talking about, Tomi?" Allen said, reaching past Dilandau to take her hand in his. "I'd call you the day after."

Dilandau flicked Allen's hand away and muttered crankily, "Sure you would."

Dryden put a hand to his mouth and pretended to cough before he said in a crystal clear professional tone, "Tomi, if a guy is really interested – he really will call right away. You have to look like the kind of girl that would make a guy want to call without waiting. Do you think you can do that?"

Hitomi shrunk down in her chair. Yeah, she had definitely put her foot in her mouth. She guessed that it wasn't very mature for her to be questioning the ad campaign when she hadn't done any modelling before. They were taking a chance on her, so she needed to have a better attitude.

She wanted to apologize, but taking back what she said now seemed a little immature, so instead she said quietly, "I'm counting on you to help me be exactly what you want."

Dryden smiled as if to say that he accepted her apology and then he went on to list the locations for the shoot. One would be in one of the underground train stations, another on the city streets outside a coffee shop, and the last one was in their own offices.

Allen groaned when he heard that one. "You're not going to make me pose in your office again, are you? Haven't we been through this already?"

Dryden nodded. "Yeah, we've been through his before. If you're not interested in doing those shots, then Tomi can do them by herself since she's being so cooperative. Photo editing is amazing these days. Wouldn't you agree?"

Allen turned away grouchily and refused to answer.

"Well, you can think about that," Dryden said crossly. He closed the laptop that was displaying his notes and asked his assistant to turn on the lights. "Now we'll talk about logistics. Folken will be presenting this segment." Dryden took a seat and Folken stood up to take over.

Folken didn't get far into his portion when Hitomi lost her ability to pay attention. She didn't understand a word of what he was saying. Apparently, this portion was more for the benefit of everyone besides Hitomi and Allen – the two who only had to show up and look pretty.

Maybe Folken was right and this was no different than being an escort, except now she had to appeal to everyone who might look at the photograph instead of just one man. She stole a glance at Van – the one man she _had _to appeal to. He seemed very interested in his brother's portion of the presentation. It didn't feel like he was thinking about her the way Dilandau was, because she was positive that his mind hadn't wavered.

* * *

After the meeting, Van and Hitomi got separated. He was off talking with Dryden and Folken while Hitomi was only to be seen leaving the building with Merle. Hitomi wasn't expected to work as Van's assistant on days when she was working as Tomi, so she only had to put an appearance in during the morning for the meeting. Now it was noon and she and Merle were planning on eating lunch together in a restaurant down the street. At least, that was the plan until Dilandau commandeered them.

He was on the street outside the Capier Corporation's building putting Allen into the back of a limo when he saw Hitomi and Merle stepping out of the building. Abruptly, he shut the door on Allen and banged on the roof of the car to let the driver know that it was okay to go without him. Then he turned on his heel and approached Hitomi and Merle.

"Good work today," he said to them both cheerfully. By this point, Merle and Dilandau knew each other rather well. He took Merle with him on both of his phoney dates for Celena's benefit. At least they knew each other well enough to be friendly.

"You too," Merle said, echoing his sentiments.

Hitomi gave him a dirty look. What was he doing here? "Aren't you supposed to be with Allen?" she asked grouchily. "Won't he be mad at you? It looks like you just blew him off."

"Oh, well, I did. No, he isn't going to be happy with me, but I'll catch up with him after I take the two of you to lunch."

"We already had plans," Hitomi said, trying to make her casual lunch with Merle sound like something important. "You can't just cut in on them at the last minute."

Merle rolled her eyes and made her feelings known before Dilandau had a chance to argue. "Didn't you hear what he said, Hitomi? He said he was going to _pay_ for both of us to have lunch with him. Did I not teach you anything? Not to mention that if we go out with him, we'll probably get to eat at a restaurant where we don't have to carry our food to the table ourselves. Catch my drift? Let's go Dil." With that, Merle put her arm through Dilandau's and let him lead them down the busy street.

Hitomi was left to trot meekly behind them – scowling. She couldn't help it. She didn't like Merle's way of talking about being a sell-out in front of Dilandau. Hitomi guessed that Merle didn't care because it wasn't like Dilandau didn't know what she was. Why bother with the pretence of being someone you weren't? Hitomi wished that she could be that honest - except not in front of Dilandau. She had the feeling that there was more to this lunch than he said. She couldn't forget what he said to her weeks ago at the escort service. He hadn't given up on her.

Once at the restaurant, Hitomi got to hear a detailed account of Celena's dates with the male escorts. Hitomi had heard a little from Merle before, but it was more interesting when Merle told the story with Dilandau, because then she got to hear both their perspectives at the same time.

"Shesta was tough, even though he looks like a sissy," Merle said brazenly when recalling Celena's first date.

"Tough?" Hitomi asked. She couldn't imagine sweet, blond haired, blue eyed Shesta being anything different than a little brother type. "How could he be tough?"

Dilandau shook his head, "Well, you said that he should get her to confide in him and to tell him about her troubles with Van. Naturally, she didn't want to. He was patient though and chipped away at her defences until she finally pulled him aside to talk to him. I guess she told him everything because when we found them, she was crying her eyes out on his shoulder and he was …"

"Patting her head," Merle finished, unable to wait for him to do the honours.

"Really?" Hitomi asked, not quite able to visualize the scene even though it had been her idea in the first place.

"Yeah," Dilandau said, looking as surprised as Hitomi felt. "I still can't get over how well it worked out, but I guess she was a little extra sensitive because she knew you were out with Van."

Dilandau looked into Hitomi's face to see her reaction to that observation, but Hitomi refused to be rattled. She maintained that it didn't matter if she existed or not – Van would never have fallen for Celena. So, she waited for Dilandau to go on and eventually, he did.

"She even asked to be set up with him again since apparently they missed exchanging cell phone numbers. After that, we took her out with Gatty."

"How did that go?"

"I think Celena was disappointed that it wasn't Shesta again," Merle said, taking a gulp of her water.

"Yeah, I thought so too. It felt like we were pitting Gatty again both Van and Shesta which would have been cruel."

"How did he manage?"

"We went to an amusement park because it was supposed to be 'all about distraction'. Remember?"

At this point Merle started to laugh. "Gatty is a riot. I didn't know him too well before, but man alive I want to find out all about him now. You'll never guess what his super powers are!"

"Super powers?" Hitomi repeated – stunned.

Merle took a deep breath before she answered carefully, "It seems that in a past life, Gatty was a carnie."

"A carnie?" Hitomi exclaimed.

"That's right," Merle giggled. "He used to be one of those guys who stands there at the carnival and shoots paper targets with a BB gun. You know – the person running the stand who can actually score enough points to get a really big prize. That way, everyone thinks it's easy. So, Gatty found the game he used to run and he won Celena this gigantic pink spotted frog within the first ten minutes."

"No way!"

Merle shrugged her shoulders, "Then he took her on the roller coaster and kept her moving until it was time to go. They even got their picture taken together in a booth. I was surprised that Celena had enough stamina to keep up with him, but then his energy is infectious. That must be why he's so popular."

"Wow," Hitomi said, completely dumbfounded. "Her next date was supposed to be with Miguel, right? Has she gone on that one yet?"

"She went on Saturday … by herself," Dilandau said meaningfully.

Hitomi leaned closer to him across the table and asked, "Did she tell you how it went."

Merle leaned in to listen as well. "Yeah, tell us."

Dilandau looked at both of them twice before he span his sunglasses between his fingers and answered, "I'm not sure if she'd want me to tell you."

"Come on!" Merle groaned. "Haven't we been your partners in all this? Hitomi cooked this all up and I went with you on those two dates. Come on! Spill!"

"I don't know," Dilandau continued, sighing and appearing to be torn.

"You can at least tell us if it went well or not, right?" Hitomi encouraged. "If it's super personal, then yeah, don't tell us, but you can at least let us know which way the wind blew. Right?"

"Well, it didn't go as well as you expected it to, Darling Tomi. Miguel was a little smoother than Celena likes. Yeah, from her description, it sounded like he knew what he was doing. His moves sounded smoother than butter. To be honest, I sort of wanted to go beat the crap out of him after what Celena told me. But he was supposed to be the last escort-made date, so I think it's okay to let things lie the way they are."

As Dilandau talked, Hitomi remembered the next phase of the plan. They were supposed to set Celena up with a real guy now.

"Do you have any plans for who should be her next date?" Hitomi asked seriously.

Dilandau frowned for an instant before he flourished a fantastic smile and said, "That's why I wanted to ask you two out for lunch. I need to talk to you about something."

"Ask," Merle said, acting like whatever Dilandau was going to say involved her as much as it involved Hitomi.

"I have someone in mind for her real date, but it involves putting you, Tomi, in a rather awkward situation when you're already going to be stressed. Merle, you have to help her."

Hitomi's body suddenly felt hot and uncomfortable. What was he going to ask?

"Explain quickly, Dilly," Merle said in her sternest voice which was anything but inviting.

"I want to set her up with Folken. I think they'd match. It's just that Celena will need to be on site during the shoot from time to time to make sure that the two of them see each other a little before I suggest that they go on a date. Do you think that you'll be able to deal with her daggers, Tomi?"

Hitomi stared at him with utter revulsion. He really was the devil; horns and everything.

* * *

Hitomi's first instinct was to ask Dilandau if he was punishing her for choosing Van over him or if he was truly a sadist at heart. If Celena hung out on the set it was going to be a thousand times worse than just an 'awkward situation'. First of all, her presence was completely unnecessary, because she worked in Financial Services and not Marketing. Second, Hitomi didn't think it was professional for Allen and Dilandau to invite family members on a shoot. After thinking up those two reasons, Hitomi's brain short circuited and a score of other reasons flooded and clogged the logical part of her consciousness. Van would be uncomfortable. Folken would be working, and if Celena hung all over him, who knew what the consequences might be – not just for him, but for the project?

In the end, Hitomi's eye twitched. Then she got up and said smoothly while looking down at Dilandau, "If only you could buy what you want from me with a simple lunch, but with you – the pleasure of my company is never enough. You have to have so much more; a man for Celena, a way to torture Van, a way to make Allen more popular before he ruins himself and you think that I'll always help you if you fork out the money or the privilege. Isn't that right?" She paused and looked into his perpetually red eyes. "Well, you know what Dilandau?"

"What?" he said softly, like the wind had been knocked out of him.

"I've just thought of a new mandate for your growing list."

"Go on," he said when she paused.

"Convince me that you're not the devil, because I'm through helping you. If you want to bring Celena on the shoot, knock yourself out, but I don't think anything will come of it. If she glares at me, she glares at me – you wouldn't put aside this golden opportunity for a replacement Van to protect me, now would you? You're willing to place me in that 'awkward situation' just to get you off the hook with Celena. And you expect me to think better of you than Van. Ridiculous! Do whatever you want Dilandau, but I'm through with you."

Hitomi grabbed her handbag and swiftly marched through the restaurant doors. If Merle was so desperate for a free lunch then she could stay.

* * *

Hitomi didn't know what Dilandau's reaction to her downpour had been. His face had shown no sign, so she was surprised when it came in the form of a summons to Dryden's office the next day – without Van.

Hitomi felt unusually nervous as she took the elevator to the Marketing floor and was waved in by the receptionist.

"Come in and close the door," Dryden said when she knocked on his door frame.

Hitomi obeyed and sat down on the zebra patterned sofa. "Is something wrong?" she asked timidly.

He looked at her curiously. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Anything," she told her boss' boss.

"Do you want to be a model?"

The question took Hitomi off guard. At first she didn't know what to say. It was a full minute before she made the connection that Dilandau must have something to do with this conversation. "I never had any particular aspirations to become one," she finally answered.

"Why did you agree to do our photo shoot then?"

"I thought it would be fun."

"But you didn't have any plans to try to make it as a model?"

"No."

"The reason I'm asking," Dryden said, putting his feet on his desk. "Is that you have seemed really dedicated to doing a good job, and yet I just got a phone call from Dilandau. Apparently, he has changed his mind about whether or not you're capable of standing up with Allen and he is willing to provide me a detailed list of female models he thinks more qualified than you."

Hitomi frowned. "Yeah, he would say that," she said bitterly.

"Dilandau doesn't usually make professional recommendations as personal favours, but I suspected that in your case he may have made an exception. However, I decided that my theory didn't work when I saw you. Physically, you are good enough to stand up with Allen, no matter what back-peddling Dilandau is doing now. Can you give me a reason why Dilly has changed his mind about you?"

"He just found out that I wasn't as blood thirsty as he supposed."

"I don't understand. You make it sound like you two were scheming something together. Care to come clean?"

"We were scheming something, but not what you think. I never told him that I wanted to be a model or anything like that. He bought me a couple times when I worked for the escort service, but he was only impressed with my way of reading his moods. He told me that was the reason why he thought that I would make a good model. I was willing to go along with it because it seemed like an interesting opportunity and at first it seemed like he didn't want anything in return."

"What does he want?"

"He wants to help his sister Celena get over Van, or else he wants to see her happy with someone else. Apparently, he 'owes' her something."

Dryden looked thoughtful for a moment and then he said, "You don't have to tell me anything else about that. I think I've heard it before. The main concern here is whether or not you're willing to put your whole heart into our campaign. I don't care if you want to make a career out of modelling, but I do care that this one thing goes right. It's not too late to get someone else if you don't want to do it."

"No, I made a commitment and I'll try my hardest," Hitomi said, trying to make herself sound more convincing than she felt.

"And you'll be happy when it's time to go back to being Van's assistant?"

"Of course!"

"Of course," Dryden echoed slowly. "For a second there I forgot that the two of you were in a relationship. Of course you'd want to go back to him." Then his face cleared and he took his feet off the desk and walked Hitomi to the door. "Don't worry about Dilandau. I'll deal with his complaint. He can't flip-flop on his recommendations. We don't _have_ to hire Allen."

Hitomi left Dryden's office feeling relieved and uncomfortable at the same time. Why was she doing all this? At first it seemed so clear - she was going to work as an escort to pay for her college tuition. Then she was going to get a job and live an honest life, but things had become more complicated since she started working for Van.

Later, as she stared at her computer screen, she realized that what she really wanted was a solid relationship with a man that she loved and could trust. She peeked around her monitor and saw Van talking on the phone in his office – smoother than silk as he discussed a press conference with someone from Research and Development. Yeah, he was better than Dilandau - but that didn't take much – he could still B.S. the pants off any corporate executive.

At this moment, Hitomi started to question where all of this was getting her and what sort of person she was going to be by the end of it.

* * *

Author's Notes: I had to wait a bit to release - respect for Harry Potter and all that. Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews even if you just say 'wow' (which isn't the shortest review I've ever had btw), but the more you say the merrier me. I really appreciate it. I didn't have a beta reader, so there are probably lots of mistakes - try not to take them personally. I'd also like to announce that I probably won't be releasing for a bit - personal reasons, but I'll try my best to get one more thing out before the storm. I have a new chapter of 'Ghost Mist' on fictionpress if anyone is interested (don't get turned off just because the hero isn't Van - I promise I can come up with interesting male characters that aren't from Escaflowne). Also, mysisterisasquijum has done some fan-frickin-tastic art to illustrate Hitomi's dragon tattoo from 'Dragon's Moon'. Come take a look at that on my wildmoonswings blog. All these links should be available from my profile, so go read 'Ghost Mist' and go take a look at my blog to see mysisterisasquijum's art. Seriously - both are awesome! 


	13. Shooting the Breeze

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Shooting the Breeze**

The photo shoot had been scheduled for midsummer and the weather outside was beastly, but because the ads needed to look like they had been taken in the fall or winter, Hitomi and Allen's wardrobe selections were extreme. Allen was stuck wearing a dark grey sweater and a Matrix style ankle-length overcoat while Hitomi was wearing thigh-high black suede boots. Folken kept on talking about texture, so she was wearing a tweed skirt, an exceptionally shiny cream blouse, as well as an overcoat that wasn't completely unlike Allen's. Folken had seen the shots of Hitomi wearing the scarf and decided that they needed one as a prop as well. It was boiling hot out. Hitomi couldn't see how she was going to make it through this without making gigantic sweat stains through her top, but she didn't dare say anything to anyone.

Now she was sitting in a makeup trailer with Merle fluttering behind her and a gigantic mirror in front of her. Allen was two feet away snoozing in his chair. His hair dresser was using a straightening iron to make Allen's hair as smooth as silk. As if it wasn't already! The trailer had air conditioning, but it was only a matter of time before they were out in that blazing sun. Hitomi didn't know how Allen could be so composed.

Hitomi hadn't see Van much that day. She saw him for about fifteen minutes in the office that morning before she had to get going. She was disappointed.

Their romance had been … Hitomi didn't know how to describe it. She wasn't sure if it was going well or not. To be truthful, she hadn't ever been in a serious relationship and so she didn't know if the feelings she was experiencing were signs of real love or not. Van was kind to her, attentive when she had his attention (granted, getting it wasn't always easy), and she felt goosebumps when he touched her and when they kissed. Yet, even with all that, she didn't feel comfortable. Yes, she had fallen asleep on him that night at her apartment, but after closer evaluation, she felt like it had been an act of shear exhaustion rather than a sign that she was more comfortable with him than anyone else. She hadn't been able to fall asleep on their hammock date – not even a little bit drowsy. She sensed that Van had been disappointed. He seemed to want them to accelerate the pace of their relationship, but too respectful of Hitomi's feelings to monopolize her time. It was clear he thought she wanted space.

The first location for the photo shoot was outside the coffee shop. Hitomi was supposed to lean against a brick wall, hold a cell phone and smile warmly while Allen was supposed to be inside the coffee shop looking at her through the window. Hitomi thought it sounded simple enough. She was also delighted to see that Folken had set up a few fans – not only to give her hair a slightly wind-blow effect, but also to stop her from fainting from heat exhaustion.

Allen gave Hitomi a reassuring smile as he stepped into the coffee shop to take his position by the window. Hitomi was surprised. She thought that he was supposed to be difficult to work with. He seemed easy enough to her.

Van, Dryden, and Merle came to wish Hitomi well before they took up positions behind Folken and his crew.

"Break a leg, or an arm, or a camera lens," Merle said sheepishly before she hustled away. It was clear that she was a little overwhelmed by the glamour of working on a real photo shoot. From Hitomi's conversation with Merle the night before, she knew that sugarplums were dancing in her head. She couldn't stop thinking about where this might lead if she did a good job.

Dryden didn't say anything much. It wasn't that he didn't want to be encouraging, but Hitomi knew he had his hands full. He was a busy man – putting out fires. Celena showed up on the set just as Dilandau warned Hitomi she would and Dryden had gone to talk to her.

Van came up and said quietly. "You know, I have been thinking about what you've said about being two faced."

Hitomi smoothed the straying strands of her wig and nodded. "You mean the act I put on when I'm working as an escort?"

"Yeah. You keep saying that has nothing to do with who you are as a person, but I think you're wrong," he said, and as he spoke his eyes seemed somehow darker and more intense.

"Oh?" she asked, her eyebrows slightly rose in interest.

"I think your ability to morph into whatever is needed in a given situation _is_ part of you. It might not be the part closest to your heart, or the part that I need to win over, but it's the part of you that's going to carry you through your entire life," he paused. "And, incidentally, help you get through today, which, by the way, is going to be unpleasant at best. Allen is a handful. Work hard and if it gets too rough, let me know and I'll intervene. You don't have to talk to me – just look at me – and I'll get you a break."

Hitomi gulped. Was Van beginning to understand a part of her that she didn't yet understand herself? She had never considered the idea that everything she did – whether real or pretend – contributed to the person she was growing up to be. She pushed the thought out of her mind and focussed on the professional part of what Van was saying.

"I don't think Allen will be that difficult. He seems to want to work with me. He just smiled at me."

Van shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I don't know that his smiling at you means anything. Today is a day of surprises. Did you see Celena? I wonder what she's doing here."

Hitomi was tempted to tell him that Dilandau's plan to pair off Folken and Celena, but decided to keep it to herself. After all, Dryden was dealing with that. Besides, Hitomi thought smugly, it wasn't going to work. She didn't think that Folken was the type to try to romance Celena in the way that she had schooled the boys from the escort service. He just wasn't that type of guy. Hitomi thought he was more of the 'take it or leave it' variety. Unless she was wrong …

"I'll try my best to make this work," Hitomi said, speaking again of the photo shoot.

"That's my girl," Van said encouragingly. "After this, I want to take you for dinner if you don't have any plans."

"Do I have to come like this?" Hitomi said, indicating her appearance.

Van smiled mischievously. "Only if you want to."

* * *

If Van had a crystal ball that let him see the future, his prediction of how the day was going to go couldn't have been more accurate. Everything happened exactly the way he said it would. It started out easy. Allen was in the coffee shop and she was standing outside, so because they weren't near each other, Hitomi couldn't do anything to offend him. However, once they moved onto the next series of poses, she couldn't do anything right according to Allen. She did what Folken told her to do, but apparently her 'interpretation' of Folken's instructions was all wrong. It would go something like this:

Folken would say something like, "Allen, put your forearm against the wall and lean into Hitomi. Take your right hand and take a strand of Hitomi's hair between your fingers, but don't let go of the cell phone. Got it? Now Hitomi, let Allen pin you against the wall and look at him like he's your entire world. Hold your cell phone to your heart with your left hand and … bite your lip."

Hitomi would put her hand to her heart (cell phone in tow), bite her lip and try to look at Allen like she was a blushing girl with all kinds of hopes tied to Allen. She would even begin to feel her cheeks get warm when suddenly –

Allen would pounce on her. He would be looking directly into her eyes and then he would say something like, "Folken, I'm just not getting the feeling like I'm her _entire_ world."

"Shut up and look pretty," Folken would say caustically and the flash from his camera would start going off like mad.

Allen would break pose and move away from Hitomi while exclaiming something along the lines of, "This just isn't working. I'm not getting the correct vibe from her that Dryden described in the meeting. She's not working with me."

Then Hitomi's cheeks would flush for real and she would find herself saying something like, "Come on Allen, and let me try again." But it didn't really matter what she said or how hard she tried, Allen just kept right on saying that she wasn't doing it right and that she wasn't easy to work with.

At around ten thirty a.m. he stormed off to the trailer almost screaming, "She's just NOT model material."

At a moment like that, Hitomi half expected herself to burst into tears, but she couldn't help but feel like Allen's temper tantrum had nothing to do with her. He was just a freaking brat! Either that, or Dilandau told him that he had to make things as difficult as possible in order to discredit Hitomi. Yeah, she could see Dilly doing something like that. It was just like him. But, that would mean a partial loss of Allen's reputation. Was Dilandau really willing to sacrifice something that important?

Well, where was he right now?

Hitomi finally spotted him approaching the trailor. He didn't quite make it to the steps before Folken got to him and reproached him. Hitomi couldn't hear their conversation, but it was clear that Dilandau was getting told off. Hitomi had never seen Dilandau cowed by anyone and apparently 'scary' Folken didn't intimidate him either. Instead, they ended up going to talk to Allen together.

After the door closed, Van came up to Hitomi and slipped his fingers around hers as subtly as possible. Hitomi doubted anyone noticed.

"I wasn't that bad, was I?" she asked, trying hard to keep the venom out of her voice.

Van rolled his eyes. "I don't know. You looked good to me and Folken didn't say anything before he started snapping off pictures. He would have said something if he didn't find your poses satisfactory. I don't think you did anything wrong, but this is crazy. You two have only finished a quarter of a day and haven't even finished the second series of poses. The more time Allen spends in his trailer, the less time you have to work on the coffee shop series. We weren't going to come back here tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah, tomorrow we were supposed to take pictures in the subway, right?"

Van nodded.

"Well, since Allen's in the trailer, can I sit down for a few minutes?" Hitomi asked.

"Probably, since Folken's in there too."

Van found her a folding chair and sat her down. Then to her immense surprise, he stood behind her and started rubbing her shoulders. And of course, every muscle in her body seized. Did he really have to do that in public?

"Don't tense up," Van rebuked.

"But-"

"But nothing. I'm your agent and in a situation like this, I think you need something to help you relax."

Hitomi tried to do what Van said. No one was looking at her funny or even really noticing what she and Van were doing. Folken's crew had all gotten themselves drinks and were mellowing on equipment carriers. Dryden was nowhere to be seen, and coincidentally, neither was Celena. A few minutes after Folken and Dilandau went into the trailer; Merle and the other makeup artist were quickly shooed out.

Merle came over to Van and Hitomi with a frown the size of an upside down row boat. "Whoa," she said, "that guy is really something else. Isn't he?"

"Did he say anything to you?" Van asked.

"No," Merle said, "but I was having a serious conversation with Sapphira about makeup and he comes trouncing in … argh!"

"Well, she's right over there," Van said, pointing to Allen's makeup artist. "And they might not be out of the trailer for awhile. You might get more time to talk out here."

"Of course I was going to go talk to her," Merle said, sounding offended that Van pointed out something so obvious to her. "I just wanted to come see how Hitomi was holding up."

"I'm fine," Hitomi said earnestly. "I just hope that Folken isn't disappointed with me."

"Well, he's not out here explaining how you're a screw-up, now is he?" Merle said thoughtfully before saying to Van snottily, "And Van, if you want to be alone with Hitomi all you have to say is 'scram'. Okay? It's not like I'm her mother." Then she stalked away to go stand by Sapphira.

Van kept on rubbing Hitomi's shoulders, but she was pointed towards the door to the trailer and she couldn't stop worrying about what was happening in there. Was Allen really being chewed out?

The minutes seemed to be going very slowly as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky. Soon it was past eleven and lunch was scheduled for twelve noon. Van got Hitomi a bottle of water and a couple of guys from Folken's crew went for a cigarette break. Now it was eleven thirty and the door still hadn't opened.

Finally at a quarter to twelve, Folken came out of the trailer. His eyes looked dark and angry. He came over to Hitomi and Van. "Where's Dryden?" he asked briskly.

"I don't know. He hasn't been back since you went in," Van said.

"Whatever," Folken said grouchily as he took his cell phone out of his pocket and started dialling. Then he moved away from them and over to his camera.

"Stay here," Van said as he moved to follow him.

Soon Folken was surrounded by a small cluster of people, but Hitomi didn't see if Folken got a hold of Dryden or not. Her attention was distracted by Allen coming out of the trailer. He was wearing his own clothes and Dilandau was following after him quickly with his cell phone pinned to his ear. It sounded like he was arranging for a car to come pick them up. Allen didn't look at Hitomi or anyone else as he left the set. He merely covered his eyes with a pair of dark sunglasses and disappeared behind the fans.

Hitomi would have loved to go have a chat with Dilandau at this moment, but it was clear that he was too busy to talk to Hitomi just then. If Folken looked like a thunder cloud when he came out of the trailer, Dilandau looked like a typhoon – the kind with shrapnel in the wind. Despite a perfectly healthy Allen walking in front of him, Dilandau looked like he had just committed murder – infuriated beyond understanding. Hitomi would have loved to talk to him.

Van came back over to Hitomi and explained, "Obviously, Allen has refused to model."

"With me?" Hitomi asked carefully. "He doesn't mind doing the photo shoot, but just not with me, right?"

Van ran a hand through his hair. It was obvious that he desperately didn't want to answer that question. "That isn't what Folken said, but the photo shoot has been put on hiatus for the time being. I guess we'll be back in the office tomorrow."

"Okay," Hitomi said slowly. She was still absorbing Allen's rejection and deciding how she was going to deal with it. Once again, she thought she was in a situation where she would normally want to cry, but she didn't. Who cared if Allen didn't like her? He was so bratty that not even Dilandau could reel him in.

"They were going to have a catered lunch here, but I think everyone would understand if you and I didn't stay for it. Can I take you for lunch and dinner?"

"You're just trying to make me feel better," Hitomi said.

"Yeah, and if we don't get out of here quickly, I'm going to fail."

* * *

Author's Notes: Hiya everyone! Thank you everyone for following my story and for reviewing. It's really wonderful when people review. I didn't have a beta reader again, so there might be lots of mistakes. Try to ignore them. Thanks! 


	14. Up the Creek

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

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**Chapter Fourteen**

**Up the Creek**

Hitomi and Van didn't tell Folken where they were going for lunch, which was why they were so surprised when he showed up at their restaurant. He dropped himself into their booth, threw his bag across the bench and stretched his legs out so far that Hitomi was positive he would trip a waitress if one happened to walk by … but maybe that was his plan.

"Hey kids," he said casually.

Van gave him a funny look, but managed to be polite enough to ask without an attitude, "What are you doing here?"

Folken shook his hand at Van like he didn't realize he was interrupting a date. "I'm angry," he said simply.

"Of course you are. Almost a whole morning of wasted! What exactly happened with Allen and Dilandau anyway? Hitomi's convinced that Allen refused to pose with her," Van explained.

Folken nodded. "Sorry Hitomi. Try not to take it personally. I don't think it had much to do with how you modelled or how you looked."

"Then what was it about?" Hitomi asked.

Folken shook his head. "I don't know. Considering how urgently Allen wanted to leave the set, I'd say that he simply had some place else he wanted to be and he was willing to say that it was your bad modelling that was driving him away rather than take responsibility for what he was doing. Dilandau certainly didn't want him to leave us in the lurch, hence the extended argument. You see, Allen broke the conditions of his contact with Capier when he walked out today."

"How's Dryden taking that?"

"I haven't been able to get a hold of him," Folken said.

"Maybe Celena knows where he is," Van said, retrieving his cell phone and finding Celena's number. He programmed her number and put his phone to his ear. Within a few rings he hung up. "Yeah, she's not answering either."

Folken chuckled, "Lover's quarrel?"

"LOVER'S QUARREL?" Hitomi and Van blurted at the exact same time.

"Huh?" Folken said. "You didn't know? I think they've been together for a couple years. Weird couple, eh?"

Van looked ultimately perplexed as he said, "You know, Folken, Celena has been chasing me since I started working for Capier. I didn't know that she ever had a relationship with Dryden."

"Really? I guess they broke up then, but back in the day, they were all over each other. The marriage issue must have finally done them in."

"What?"

"It's not an uncommon story. She wanted to get married – he just wanted to live together. I knew they were fighting about it, but … Well; it's been a long time since I had _that_ sort of conversation with Dryden."

Hitomi could hardly keep her astonishment in check. "But Van and Dryden are nothing like each other. How could she be interested in both of them? Dryden's a …"

"Player?" Folken supplied.

Hitomi looked around from side to side searching for a way out. How could she say that her boss's boss was a player?

Luckily Van rescued her. "It's not so weird. Dryden's unpredictable and unreliable while Celena is the opposite. She probably got fed up with his crap and decided to go for someone who was more 'her type'. Me. Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe Dryden decided he didn't want to be with her for the same reasons that I did."

"What were those?" Folken asked.

"I didn't want a girl I had to schedule time with."

"How ironic," Folken said thoughtfully, taking his feet out of the aisle and putting them under the table. "That you should end up with Hitomi; a girl you not only had to schedule a date with, but also had to pay for."

Hitomi bit her lip and then said frostily, "I thought we'd been through this."

"Sorry," Folken said breaking from his reverie. "I didn't mean to insult you. Don't take what I said personally. I have a lot on my mind. I need to talk to Dryden about the photo shoot, because it looks like Allen is seriously breaking contract. He says he won't come back to work until we have found a replacement for you, but I don't think we have time to find someone who suits Allen. That is a tough job when you have all the time in the world. We need to have these shots done as soon as possible so that we will have time to film a commercial before the end of the summer."

Hitomi sighed and looked away. She wanted to be helpful, but she didn't know how. She couldn't force Allen to cooperate.

"So far, all of the shots Allen has done for Capier he has done solo. Could it be that he really doesn't like sharing the stage?" Van suggested.

"Maybe that's the problem. It's possible that he doesn't think our project is a priority because he's not really the star. All the shots taken either focus on both him and Hitomi equally or they highlight Hitomi while he's left in the background. This phone is for women, so we need to show a woman using one which means that he can't do the shoot without a female partner. Like I said, finding someone who can model with Allen is challenging. When I saw Dryden's pictures of you, Hitomi, I thought we had practically struck gold. You would look good with anybody … Which," Folken said meaningfully, "is why I think it would be faster to replace Allen than to replace you."

"You want to replace Allen?" Van asked. "With who?"

Folken's eyes literally twinkled. "Van," he said smoothly. "Do you remember the promise you made me in exchange for my letting you live in my condo?"

"You don't mean?"

"Oh, but I do," Folken said, fishing through his bag and withdrawing a magazine. "Hitomi, have a look at that."

Hitomi took the copy of 'Teen Wish' and examined the cover. It was the prom issue.

Hitomi gaped.

Van laughed when he saw it. "Where did you dig that up?"

"Dig it up? I keep a copy with me at all times," Folken proclaimed noisily.

"Of course you do," Van drawled. "How many years ago was that, anyway?"

"Five," Hitomi answered, looking at the date on the issue.

She flipped open the cover and found a younger Van staring back at her. There he was on almost every other page sporting tuxedoes and a fashionably messy hair style. He wasn't the main attraction, but merely an accessory to a girl who was modelling the latest styles of prom dresses. She could not believe how good he looked. Not only that, but as she combed further into the issue, she found a picture of him that had been mounted on one of her school friends' wall. She remembered seeing the photo years and years ago and thinking he was hotter than the usual teen heartthrob, but naturally – completely untouchable – so not worth thinking about.

Hitomi turned to Van and said, "This photo was up on my friend Yukari's wall when I was still in junior high."

"Really?" he asked, looking completely aghast.

"Yeah, really. Don't blush, Van. You look hot."

"Which is why I want him to take over Allen's place," Folken said.

Hitomi stared at Folken. "What?" she blurted. "Can you do that?"

"Well, since I can't seem to get in touch with Dryden, I guess I can do whatever I think is best. It would be a hassle to have to rebook all the locations and to rehire the temporary staff. The best thing is just to dress Van up like Allen – sans turtleneck of course – and to just get on with it." Then Folken added, "Van looks terrible in turtlenecks."

Hitomi couldn't believe what Folken was suggesting. Switching Allen for Van would make the photo shoot fun – instead of hell on earth. Her pulse was already racing at the very idea.

"The best part is that Van has modelled for me numerous times and I know he can deliver what Dryden wants. And since I let him live in my place rent free – he can't turn me down."

"Is that true?" Hitomi asked.

"Yes," Van said slowly.

"So," Folken said with a note of finality, "Eat up and we'll head back to the set. I want to finish up the coffee shop pictures before the end of the day. I'll show Dryden the pictures once we're finished. He'll like not having to dish out the big bucks for Allen – especially when he's such a pain in the ass."

* * *

Folken swapped Allen's turtleneck for a white button-up-the-front shirt. "Van's dark, see?" Folken said, pulling a shirt out of the makeshift wardrobe. "So, we need a white shirt to contrast his colouring. He's not as tall as Allen though, so he needs to wear a different size of trousers."

"Are you faking an English accent?" Hitomi suddenly asked.

Folken smiled. "Not intentionally. I work with a lot of Brits. It rubs off." Then he jumped back into work. He thumbed through the spare clothes. "Hmm … nothing that would fit Van."

Van snorted. "Excuse me for being short."

"Well, what you're wearing isn't at all suitable. A cat has better fashion sense than you do."

"You only think that because a cat runs around in the buff," Van retorted and Hitomi silently agreed that Folken's modesty left something to be desired.

"You'll have to wear mine. Switch me," Folken said, immediately unbuttoning his own black pants. He didn't even give Hitomi a chance to turn around. Apparently, he didn't mind if she saw his shiny black briefs.

Hitomi bolted out of the door to the trailer. "Whoa," she said, leaning against the door after she clamped it shut.

"Hey," Merle said coming up to her. "Folken said we had to find a different shirt for you too. What are you doing out here in the same thing?"

"Let's just give them a minute," Hitomi said, shaking her head.

Within half an hour, Hitomi and Van were ready to go. Hitomi's wardrobe had been altered so that her blouse and coat were gone. Instead she was wearing a black off-the-shoulder sweater and a scarf around her neck. Folken liked the change because he said it made her more feminine. Plus, she had been wearing something similar in the initial pictures Dryden took.

So, there was Hitomi up against the wall for a second time, but luckily this time, it was Van pushing her instead of Allen. Except now she was uncomfortable in a different way. She'd never seen Van pretend before, and so she wasn't sure how much of his behaviour was real or for the benefit of Folken's camera. Were his eyes always this dark, this full of passion and awareness? Did his hand always feel this self assured when she held it before? Did the two of them always get along this well? Did he look at her like this when she wasn't paying attention, or did she just not see it before?

It was then that Hitomi realized that the flush on her cheeks wasn't one of her brain-induced rushes. This was quite the opposite - the real thing. Van might not be able to tell when she was real, but Folken did. He always shot off his camera shutter insanely at the most inopportune moments – right when Van's gaze got too intense for Hitomi and she was about to look away. It made Hitomi blush even more furiously to have her heart exposed like that. But whenever she looked at the crew – it was just business as usual for them – they were selling phones. They didn't know it was her real heart on the line.

Folken had a lot of poses up his figurative sleeve and he did rounds of more poses than Hitomi could count before he called it a day.

Hitomi was completely and totally drained. She stretched her arms and cocked her neck hoping to hear a satisfying crack.

"I don't feel like doing dinner tonight," Hitomi told Van as he gave her a bottle of water. "I'm beat and by now, I'm probably too frazzled to appear in public."

"That's okay. I'm not really in the mood anymore either," he said shortly.

"All right then," Hitomi said, wondering about his dark mood. Maybe it he didn't really want to pose after all. "I'm going to go change."

Hitomi turned and went to go into the trailer and was surprised to see Van walking behind her. She peeked around at him a couple times and looked at him meaningfully trying to communicate to him that she wanted to go alone because she was obviously going to change into her street clothes. But he didn't seem to catch the hint and kept right on following her.  
At the door she stopped, "Van I …"

Van reached past her and opened the door for her. "After you," he said, steering her into the trailer.

Hitomi felt lost as she stumbled into the empty trailer. What was did he need to talk to her about that couldn't wait until after she had taken her wretched wig off? Regardless, she couldn't wait to start getting comfortable.

"What is it?" she asked him as she stepped up to her dressing table and started unscrewing the backs of her earrings. She set them on the table when Van gradually came up behind her and started rubbing her shoulders.

"You're tired, aren't you?" he whispered as he drew back the curtain of her hair and began kissing her ear.

Hitomi could see their reflection in the mirror as he worked his way down her neck. His kisses were soft and his breath warm. Hitomi's legs felt wobbly; she didn't know if she could keep standing. One of his hands went to the back of her throat and tugged her scarf free. He wrapped it between his fingers, to keep it from falling. Hitomi felt so weak that she couldn't keep her eyes open. But even as his arms encircled her and he pulled her around to face him, somehow she couldn't lose sight of where they were.

"Van," she sighed. "Do you really think this is a good place? What if someone walks in on us?"

His dark eyes locked on hers and he asked roughly, "Don't you want me?" He kissed her again and she could sense his desperation for her. It was in every one of his motions.

She didn't know what to do. She felt like such a tramp. How could she make out with her boss at work? It seemed so slutty – except for the pounding of her heart. She was so excited by him that she didn't know if she could push him away.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Hitomi pushed Van off and quickly turned around to continue taking off her jewellery. She was just in time, because Folken and Merle came crashing into the trailer talking about how great work had been that day. Hitomi was beet-red, but she acted as if nothing happened. She was pretty sure they hadn't seen anything, but when she looked at Van … she saw that she had offended him.

He stalked behind a Chinese screen to change his clothing and when he emerged, he didn't look the least bit happier. Before he left the trailer entirely, he gave Hitomi a look that was both disappointed and extremely frustrated.

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Author's Notes: Sorry I haven't updated. I have been working furiously on 'Ghost Mist' (which is posted on fictionpress). I like that project. I like Tesai - he's like Dryden in my Escaflowne trilogy - except sassier. So, about this chappy: I didn't have a beta reader for this chapter, so there may be mistakes - there are probably lots of them. Be cool, kay? Thanks always to anyone who reviews. Reviews are important because they make me work. For instance - I had pretty much forgotten this story existed (so hard have I been working on 'Ghost Mist') when I got a lovely review today from Yura and I got up the memory to finish this chapter and post it. Remember folks - reviewing is key. Cheers! 


	15. Devilish Laugh

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but notice Van's use of a white feather. Cute eh?

Author's Notes: This chapter is something of an experiment for me, so if you have any thoughts on how the chapter or dialogue are structured, I would be very interested in hearing them.

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Chapter Fifteen

Devilish Laugh

The next photo shoot wasn't scheduled until one o'clock in the morning. These pictures were to be taken in the subway, and they wanted to include pictures of the train, thus they needed to be taken after hours. There had been a debate over whether or not to go for the second shift seven hours after they finished the coffee shop pictures, but Allen insisted that he needed an entire day to recover, so all the arrangements with the transit department had already been made to accommodate him.

Hitomi asked Van if she should come into work the day before that shoot, but Van informed her that there was no need. He wasn't coming in to work that day, either. Apparently, he simply took over Allen's contract, with the exception of pay. Van wasn't worth as much as Allen. She overheard Folken offering him less than half of what they were going to pay Allen. Folken apologized for the cut, but Van shook his head and said that it was part of their agreement that he would model for Folken whenever he wanted him, so it was fine. He laughed and said he was happy that Folken wasn't considering him a freebee.

Then he came back to Hitomi. His bad mood seemed to have evaporated. It was one of the tricks of a PR officer; he could turn it on and turn it off. "Sorry Hitomi," he said. "I'd take you over to my place to rest tonight, but Folken is going to be there as soon as he finishes here, so we wouldn't have any privacy."

"That's okay," Hitomi said smiling, but she couldn't help but wonder what Van was thinking. She hadn't stayed over at his place once. Why would she start when she was so bleeding tired? "I'm just going to go home and have a hot bath, and I'll see you in the subway tomorrow, okay?" Then she started walking away.

"Wait," Van said, grabbing her arm. "Can I see you tomorrow? We have the whole day off."

Hitomi laughed. "Maybe you have the whole day off. Since I don't have to come into work, Merle booked me. She was really worried she wouldn't have enough time to doll me up for the subway shots, because I wouldn't get home from work until six, but now that I'm free, I'm sure she's figured out an entire day of soaking and steaming. Hopefully, I'll come out looking smooth," Hitomi said with a wink.

"Can't you make a little time?"

"Maybe in the morning," Hitomi said quietly. My, he was persistent.

"What time?" Van asked.

"I don't know – early."

"I'll be over early then," he said kissing her on the cheek and letting her go.

Hitomi stumbled away to find Merle, since they were supposed to be driving home together, but she couldn't get his expression out of her head. What was it about glamourous Tomi that never failed to captivate Van's interest? No matter what he said, he always acted differently towards her when she was dressed up like Tomi. It was clear that he was far more attracted to her … and that stung.

* * *

The next morning, Hitomi's nose felt itchy. She scratched it and rolled onto her stomach. Then the itch moved to her ear. She scratched that, too. Then the side of her neck, the center of her back, her shoulder blade, and then her neck again. Fed up, she sat up and scratched everything – she felt itchy everywhere.

"Good morning, Tomi-chan," a deep voice whispered.

Hitomi woke herself up the rest of the way and saw Van sitting on the edge of her bed. He was holding a long white feather. He'd been tickling her nose and bare back with it.

She looked at the clock and saw not only a bra hanging over the nightstand, but also the time – seven … a.m. She snatched the bra and shoved it under her pillow. "Van, what are you doing here?"

"You said early," he said, leaning back onto his elbows.

"Yeah, early. Couldn't you have called?" she asked as she jumped up to find any other offending pieces of clothing that she might have left lying around. "Or at least knocked before you came into my_bedroom_?"

"But I wanted to come over before you woke up. You look so cute when you sleep," he teased.

"Did Merle let you in?"

"She's really nice, isn't she?"

Hitomi stood there in her pyjamas and stared at him. After his behaviour yesterday, she would have expected to find him a wolf today – predatory and hungry – for a lack of better words. But today he was laughing and chummy. He had even dropped the feather, so that there wasn't the faintest hint pointing to a seduction scene. It looked like their fiery kiss in the trailer yesterday hadn't even happened.

Hitomi snatched blue moon her housecoat off the hook and put it on. She ruffled her short hair until it practically stood up on end. "Would you like something to eat?" she asked.

"Couldn't I take you out for breakfast again?" he invited.

"No," Hitomi said, she opened the door to her bedroom and went out into the kitchen. "I have to get dressed up later and I'm not doing it twice when I'm this tired. I'm making eggs on toast for myself. Would you like me to make some for you, too?" Hitomi opened the fridge and started pulling out ingredients. There wasn't much there that belonged to her.

Van followed her into the kitchen and then started looking in the cupboards for a frying pan. He found one and put it on the burner for her. "Tell you what, since I was so inconsiderate, why don't I cook for you? You said you wanted eggs on toast; I'll make them for you. You just have a seat and I'll do all the work."

He led her towards the table and Hitomi dropped herself into one of the chairs.

Van opened the fridge and found some orange juice. He was about to pour a glass when Hitomi stopped him. "Don't drink that!" Hitomi said urgently, stopping him in mid pour.

"Why?" he questioned, confused.

"That's Merle's. I didn't buy it."

"You and Merle don't buy groceries together?"

"No," Hitomi said, shaking her head. "She had some bad experiences with her last roommate and so she said she wanted to buy things separately. I bought the milk, so you can have that."

"I was pouring this for you," he said, returning the orange juice to the fridge and taking out the milk. The way he said 'for you' made Hitomi's heart skip. He brought Hitomi the milk and turned back to the stove where he started cracking eggs into a bowl. "You know," he said lazily. "I was thinking that you never got to try my stir fry."

"No, I didn't. Celena and Dilandau interrupted us."

"Yeah," he said, deliberately keeping his back to Hitomi. "I feel like whenever we get a few minutes alone together we're interrupted by someone. Yesterday, it was Merle and Folken; both in the trailer and when I took you out for lunch. It feels like there's always someone in line who wants you, wants me, or wants both of us. I'm starting to get fed up."

"It does seem like we're suffering from some rotten luck," Hitomi admitted. "I'm sorry," she said, looking dreamily through the kitchen window out onto the sun dappled parking lot. "And it doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon. We still have two more photo sessions, and then the wrap up party. We're going to some club aren't we?"

"Yeah," he answered quietly.

Hitomi didn't catch the frustration in his voice and continued, "Then we'll both be back at our desks working. It's kind of hard to be a couple at work, isn't it?"

Van turned around and looked squarely at Hitomi as the eggs crackled behind him, "Maybe we won't be back at our desks – at least I might not be."

"Why not?" Hitomi asked.

"Folken found a job for me," Van admitted.

"Working as a model?" Hitomi giggled.

"No," Van said, looking uncomfortable. "It's a job in public relations. Folken has been after me to take it since he got back. The offer was pretty impressive."

The reason for Van's discomfort was becoming clear to Hitomi. "It's not here, is it?" she asked.

"No, it's in London. That's why I don't want to take it. To me, it looks like just one more obstacle. I want to be with you, but … it pays a lot more money and I'd be the director of the public relations department instead of just an officer. So, I confess – I'm tempted."

"Are you asking me what I think?" Hitomi asked, taking a sip of milk.

"Well," Van said, laughing. "You _are_ my girlfriend. You deserve to have your say before I make my decision. I'd really like to hear your opinion."

Hitomi sat quietly for a second – thinking. Van was leaning against the counter examining her expression and waiting for her reply.

It was going to tear her apart to say 'good-bye' to him, but she couldn't stop thinking about their relationship. It always felt like he liked Tomi far more than Hitomi, and she couldn't tie him down if the one he liked wasn't her true self. She had always thought that he was more than she could handle. Why would a guy like him want to be with a plain-Jane girl like her?

"Van," she said quietly. "It sounds like a great opportunity. I think you should probably take it."

"You don't want me to stay?" he asked as he turned around and started scrambling the eggs.

"Of course I want you to stay, but I also don't want to hold you back. You know? It's a delicate balance, but …"

"But what?"

"But," Hitomi swallowed hard and braced herself for what she was about to say. "I was never really good enough for you to begin with. You're so incredible and fascinating and you have it all together and I … just pretend. You deserve someone who doesn't need to dress up to get your attention."

"Is that how you really feel? Is that how I make you feel?" he asked. His voice was tight and dry.

She'd screwed up. He didn't take that as a compliment at all. What could she say now? She felt tortured. She had to come up with a way to smooth this over as quickly as possible, but no ideas were coming.

When she didn't answer him, Van turned around and approached her. "You know, sometimes I feel like my feelings are too close to the surface. Maybe I leave my face too open and you read exactly what I think and feel – and then you say exactly the right thing to either excite me into ecstasy or to twist the knife that much deeper. Are you doing it intentionally? What exactly do you want from me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about! I'm not like that," Hitomi cried.

"Really? What about yesterday during the shoot? Folken wouldn't have cared if we kissed on the set. No one would have cared, but you kept on turning your face away over and over again."

"I didn't do it to insult you or to push you away. I thought you weren't serious and you were just hamming it up for the shoot."

"And then in the trailer? I almost fell flat on my butt when you pushed me away," he accused.

"But Merle and Folken came in! It wouldn't have been professional!"

Van stared at her wide-eyed. "Are you really that straight laced? Give me a break. You had no problem with public displays of affection when you worked as an escort. Why be squeamish now? Besides, it was Folken and Merle. I can't even think of two people who would have cared less if they caught us kissing."

Hitomi exhaled heavily. "I'm sorry Van, but I keep telling you that I'm not really experienced when it comes to this sort of thing. Apparently, I make stupid mistakes. I honestly wasn't trying to hurt your feelings. I'm not like that."

"Well, I've been trying very hard to figure out who you are, Hitomi. Sometimes, you're so hot that it seems impossible that a woman like you exists and sometimes you are the girl-next-door to a T."

"I _am_ the girl-next-door," Hitomi said sorrowfully. That was the truth and she might as well get it out in the open. He might as well know who he's dealing with.

"Bull!" Van accused. "If that was all there was to you then it would be impossible for you to pull off being Tomi. Maybe you're not a little girl anymore and you don't want to deal with the fact that you can be a skilled man-eater."

"But you are never attracted to me when I'm not dressed like Tomi!" Hitomi wailed – finally saying exactly what was on her mind. "You're always trying to get me to go out with you while dressed like her."

"For your information, it's not just how you look. It's how you act. You can think I'm that shallow if you like, but I promise – it's not just the long hair and additional curves. You act flirty – it's cute."

Hitomi bit her lip. She was listening carefully to what he had to say, but her vision got blurry when she realized that what she'd believed all along was true. He did like her better as Tomi.

"You'd better go," she said quietly. "Thank you for making me breakfast." Then she got up and headed towards her bedroom.

"Wait," Van said, grabbing her arm.

"Don't say anything else, Van," she said, jerking her arm free. "Look – everything is cool between us, but if we keep talking it won't stay that way and we need to work together tonight. So, just consider this a breather and I'll see you tonight. Okay?"

"Okay," he said and made his way to the door. Apparently, he understood as well as she did their need to get along for the sake of the campaign.

Hitomi listened to him put on his shoes and go out the door. She heard his footsteps down the hallway and she even heard him open the door to the stairs. What if this was the last time he came and the last time he left? The thought was too much for Hitomi. She went to her bedroom and cried for a bit before her mind cleared enough for her to think.

Somehow in the back of her mind she'd always felt like Van was too good for her. She wasn't the kind of girl who could win a guy like him, was she? Her conversation with him had done two things. First, it had made her miserable. Second, it let her know how she could not only get Van, but also how she could make him happy. Did she like him bad enough to make this kind of sacrifice?

When her determination became concrete, she got up and went into Merle's bedroom. She wouldn't be able to go through with her plan without Merle's help.

After Hitomi explained her plan Merle laughed, "Are you sure you want to do this? It's sort of intense, and it could end really badly."

"I want to," Hitomi said boldly, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. "I want to see if he means what he says. If he's really that far gone over Tomi, then let's see how far he'll go if we give her to him."

"Are you trying to drive the man insane?"

"Maybe."

Merle shrugged her shoulders. "And what about Hitomi? What will happen to her?"

"She's mine. She'll always be mine, so it won't matter if I give this a try," Hitomi said stiffly. She didn't feel like she was giving anything up.

"If that's how you feel, then I'll definitely help you, but today is going to be brutal. Prepare yourself!" Merle grabbed her cell phone and started making calls.

* * *

The photo shoot in the subway was actually pretty fun. After the day before, Hitomi didn't believe that Folken could have more up his sleeve, but miraculously, he did. He did these crazy shots with Hitomi standing on one platform while Van stood on the opposite one and the train sped between them. At least, that's what Folken said they would look like once he was finished with them.

Hitomi and Van spoke briefly before Folken started taking pictures.

"How are you feeling?" Van asked gently.

Hitomi looked him up and down. He was wearing the same clothes he had worn for the shoot the day before. So was she. He still looked absolutely mouth watering and Hitomi was positive that she had made the right choice even though her shoulders ached. Essentially, she'd worked from seven in the morning and now it was quarter to two the next morning. She was bushed, but her heart was pounding. She needed to give this her all.

She pouted her lips and glanced at his face again before returning to her water. "It's a little cold down here," she said, touching her bare shoulder with her finger tips.

"Do you want a coat?" he asked considerately.

"No," she said, even though she had goose bumps. "We have to get to work. Are you ready?" The playful look she gave him wasn't lost on him as he joined her in front of the camera lens.

This time they weren't posed so closely together and very few of the shots required Van and Hitomi to touch each other. She had to use every ounce of her charisma to make herself blush like she was the luckiest girl in the world when she wanted to stare Van down like a stalker.

By the end of the shoot, Folken was congratulating both of them on a hard day's work. He took fewer shots than he had the day before. "I'm pretty sure I got what I want," he said lightly, but Hitomi could tell that he was about to fall on his face from sheer exhaustion.

Hitomi bit her lip to make it look plumper and touched Folken on the shoulder. "Are you feeling all right?" she asked in her most delicate little-girl voice.

"Yeah," he said, forcing himself to perk up. "I just had to have a really long meeting with Dryden this afternoon and I'm a little fried."

"He didn't get out of it until it was time to start setting up here," Van said between tight lips. "So we're finished?"

"We're finished," Folken yawned. "You two can go get changed."

Hitomi took Van's hand and led him up the escalator. Tonight their trailer was above ground. She slid her arm around his waist and, by doing so, practically got into his coat with him.

"So, we didn't break up this afternoon?" Van asked, still sounding like something was wrong.

"Did you think we had?" she asked, looking deeply into his eyes.

"Well, I made you sad … or mad … or …" Van stuttered. He couldn't help it; Hitomi was playing with his hair and intentionally blowing in his ear.

"Bad?" she asked quietly. Then she stepped off the escalator. She couldn't believe it when he stumbled. "Come on," she said, pulling on his hand. "I want to get changed."

When they got into the trailer, Hitomi got behind the Chinese screen and started stripping. This was very uncomfortable for her, but she pulled it off as best she could. This part of the play was Merle's idea. She draped her shirt over the edge and started talking.

"Van, we may have had an argument this morning, but that's all in the past now. I thought about what you said and I think you have a good point."

"Do you?" Van asked.

"Yeah," she said, while she zipped up a pair of Merle's black pants. "A girl wants to be treated like a princess, so why shouldn't she look like one if that's what she wants?" Hitomi slipped a shiny black tank top over her head. "You know?" she said as she came out from behind the screen.

Van reached for her, but she walked right past him to her dressing table. "I want to take off my wig," she said.

"Ah, but of course," Van said, like at least something she said was starting to make sense. He started unlacing his boots.

Hitomi had to be very careful as she took off her wig. She didn't want to upset what was underneath. Of the many things that Hitomi had done that afternoon to try to get ready to be Tomi from now on, this one had been the hardest. She had gotten extensions. Now when she took off her wig, she had long straight honey coloured strands that were really attached to her head. Van liked long hair, so she was giving him long hair. She picked up a brush and started smoothing it.

"Is that another wig?" Van asked. He had gotten up and was standing beside her.

"No. This is what my hair is like now. What do you think?"

"It looks good," Van said, twirling a strand between his fingers. His eyebrows were pulled together and he was clearly confused.

Hitomi shrugged her shoulders like she didn't care what he thought and started putting on her jewellery. She put on two silver hoop earrings, thick silver rings, and three hoop bracelets. Then she grabbed a little black cardigan and put it on to cover her shoulders.

"Are you going to get changed?" she asked looking at his clothes. "Merle left already, so I was hoping you could give me a ride home."

"What are you playing at?" he asked, looking at her like he was more worried about her than enchanted.

"I told you already. You said that you liked the way I looked when I dressed up, so I'm just trying it out, okay? Does it make you like me better to see me dressed like this?"

"So, this is for my benefit?"

"It's not for mine," she said briefly. She had worked so hard and now she wasn't sure that he even cared.

Van suddenly bent down and kissed her. His hands were all over her and his lips and breath were so hot. This was everything she wanted. She needed him to feel the same way about her that she felt about him. His hands were on her back and he crushed the fabric of her shirt under her sweater in his fists. Her knees were buckling. She felt so weak; like she might faint or fall on the floor. The trailer around them was becoming dark.

In the end, she had to pull away from him before she blacked out.

"What's wrong?"

Hitomi didn't know what to say, so she stumbled over to her bag and took out her shoes. "You're really hot," she said. "It's sort of too much for me right now. I think I need to get some air. We can pick up here after I've got control of myself."

"That's supposed to be my line after I do something ungentlemen-like and you shove me off," Van said as he reached for her again.

"I'll just be a minute," she said, evading him.

"Wait," Van begged as she stumbled out of the trailer and stood on the empty city street.

"Just two breathes," she promised. Then she closed the door between them. It delighted her that he actually looked disappointed.

Hitomi took two heavy breathes, but she didn't feel refreshed. What was she going to do? She wasn't confident that she could keep herself conscious and if she couldn't even do that much, how was she going to fare when they got further along? And he was so intense.

She lazily made her way down the three steps that led into the trailer – thinking.

"Tomi, is that you?" a voice suddenly came out of the darkness.

Hitomi's head swung around. "Who's there?"

"Nothing to fear," the smooth voice continued as Dilandau stepped into the light of the trailer. "It's just me."

"What do you want?" she asked crossly.

"I wanted to thank you for your help. My sister is all set up now, so there is nothing to worry about."

"I didn't see her with Folken," Hitomi admitted, remembering Dilandau's plan.

"If that were only the real plan," he drawled as he took a slow drag from his cigarette. He looked ghastly in the weird yellow light from the trailer. His hair and skin were so pale and his red eyes shone out and looked even redder through his red glasses. "She was only trying to get Dryden to the alter and so now that she's won him I'm finally free."

"Goody for you," Hitomi said sarcastically. She didn't care two straws whether or not Dilandau owed Celena favours. "When's the wedding?"

"It was yesterday. I think they'll announce it at your wrap-up party."

"Oh? Really? And why are you here now? Is Allen bummed about missing out on this shoot?"

"Why would he be bummed about that? Like he cares if he blows off Capier Corporation! In his mind he was only doing it as a favour to Celena."

"And in your mind?" Hitomi asked, thinking of Dilandau's face when Allen walked off the set.

"They were important clients," Dilandau admitted wearily. "Any pay cheque is better than none, which is where he's headed."

"And you?" Hitomi asked suspiciously. "Did you decide to blow him off?"

"Soon, Tomi, soon. It won't be long now before he isn't offered anything new. He ran off the set the other day. News gets around fast, and it's very bad business to walk out because of a temper tantrum. He already had a bad reputation and now I suppose it's going to get worse. I won't have anything to book if he keeps this up. So, whether I drop him or not is unimportant."

"So, what about your career? Allen acted like he was your full time job. If you don't have him, what do you plan to do?" Hitomi asked suspiciously.

Dilandau seemed to slither as he moved towards her. "I'll have to scout new talent of course."

"So, you want to be my agent?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"I really think you have potential."

"Do you?"

"Well, I wanted to make you an offer."

"What sort of offer?" Hitomi asked sceptically.

"I have a job for you working as a fashion model. It'll last about four months to begin with and then we'll see if we can find you something new."

"Where is it?"

"London," he said and the word seemed to hang in the air like a glowing moon between them.

"Oh crap," Hitomi said out loud. She couldn't help thinking about what Van had told her that afternoon about moving to London for a job in public relations. Hitomi put her hand to her forehead. If this wasn't just some lame trick of Dilandau's than it was her way to go with Van to London. Van could take his great job offer and she could take hers. They could still see each other while not being in anyone's way. She was sorely tempted. She really didn't want to let Van go, but she didn't know what she could offer him that would make him want to stay.

"Are you tempted just because of the location?" Dilandau asked coyly. "How curious!"

"I'll have to think about it," Hitomi said quietly.

"That's all. You just need to move to London? You don't care what the pay is, or what the job will be like, what hours you'll work, what clothes you'll wear, or anything? All that matters to you is that you'll live in London."

Hitomi rolled her eyes. "Don't pick up on things so quickly," she said wretchedly. "Or if you do, at least have the grace not to talk about them out loud. But now that you're mentioning it, I do have one question."

"And that question is?" Dilandau asked as he flicked away his cigarette.

"What's the catch?"

"What catch?"

"There has to be something you want me to do for you in exchange for this marvellous opportunity. You'd better tell me that part before we go any further."

Dilandau hesitated before he said sweetly, "It's nothing really. A token."

Hitomi waited for him to finish with her hands on her hips. She drummed her fingers on her upper arm.

"Oh, don't be so grouchy!" Dilandau accused as he came right in front of her so that her folded arms touched his chest. He took off his sunglasses and showed her the purple circles under his eyes. "I just want to make up with you. You said those horrible things about my trying to buy you with money. I've been miserable since we weren't friends."

"Okay, then," she said, feeling sorry for him. "I accept your apology."

"I didn't apologize," he said, squinting. "Yet," he said and then without warning his hands were gripping her cheeks and his mouth was on hers.

Hitomi didn't have a chance to do anything; not to push him off, not to bite him, not to scream, or do anything else before a harsh voice interrupted them.

"Tomi!" Van barked from the trailer door.

Dilandau pulled off her, but quickly manoeuvred Hitomi into a sideways hug so that her arms were pinned to her sides.

"Let go of me!" she yelled, but Dilandau did no such thing.

He simply answered Van by saying, "You're interrupting."

"Am I?" Van said with his eyebrows arched.

"Van! Help me!" Hitomi screamed. Dilandau wasn't telling go.

Van took a deep breath and came down the steps. "Let go of her, Dilly."

"Or what?" Dilandau asked, holding tight to Hitomi while she struggled.

"I hate you," Van said weakly, and Hitomi wasn't sure if he was talking to her or Dilandau.

Then Van punched Dilandau squarely on the jaw. He let go of Hitomi and fell back onto the pavement.

"Leave her alone," Van said, taking Hitomi's hand and striding quickly away from the trailer.

"Not on your life," Dilandau yelled, still laying flat on his back. "She's going to be my new model."

Van whipped around and looked Hitomi in the eye. "Is that what you two were talking about?"

Hitomi nodded. She was stuck, but if she lied it would be worse.

Van looked incredulous, but he gripped her hand tighter and hurried her towards his car. He opened the door for her and even helped her inside.

He got behind the wheel and pushed the button so that all the doors locked automatically. "He was attacking you, right?"

"Yes," Hitomi said. "But he wasn't lying about the job. He offered me one."

"And you? Did you want to take it?"

Hitomi was about to answer when Van interrupted her, "So, I take that job and move to London and you become Dilandau's new feature model, is that it? No hard feelings between us because we'll break up for the sake of my job and then you can do whatever you want."

"The job he offered me was in London – I wanted to be with you," she squealed. She had to get the truth out before he exploded.

"And the only way you can think of to get us to be together is to whore yourself off to Dilandau? Why not just ask me if you can come with me? You're my assistant – whether we're lovers or not – I'd still have asked you to come with me. You are a great assistant."

"And that's what you love about Hitomi? That she's a great assistant?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what Van?" Hitomi yelled, as tears formed in her eyes. "Piss off. You wanted me to be Tomi, so I became her. If you take me to London, then you want me to be Hitomi, so you'll have an assistant. Don't you understand? I am not both people! I am either Tomi or Hitomi. If I'm Hitomi, then you go to London by yourself because she would never go that far for a man who would never love her properly. She'd stay and work at Capier Corp. for a different P.R. officer."

"And if you're Tomi?" Van asked quickly.

"I don't know," Hitomi said thoughtfully. "She's the kind of girl who makes big demands and gets what she wants. She won't come just to be your girlfriend, and she'd make a mess of your office because she'd flirt with everyone. If you want her to come, you'll have to make her a pretty impressive."

"What kind of offer?"

Hitomi frowned and said – risking everything, "It would have to be big. You'd have to promise to love her forever. You know, give her something worth giving up her boring self for and worth giving up her flirtatious self for. You've have to make it worth her giving everything to you. Big."

Van started the engine and turned on the head lights. "And she'd come to London with me?"

Hitomi nodded her head in the darkness.

"What about Dilandau?"

"I don't think he's going to be easy to get rid of. I never dreamed he would go that far for me."

Van smirked in the darkness and threw his car into reverse. "I told you," he said sharply. "Tomi makes guys want to do that."

* * *

Author's Notes: There are five chapters available of 'Ghost Mist' now on Fictionpress. Please go read them. That is a really cool story - fun, spunky, with loads of action and fun. Please go read it.

* * *

But thank you to everyone who is reading this story. I have no beta reader, so there may be lots of mistakes. I hope non of them are embarrassing. Oh, and if you had any thoughts about the chapter structure or dialogue - I'd like to hear them. Cheers!

* * *


	16. Breaking it up

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

Breaking it up

"How did it go?" Merle asked Hitomi when she stumbled into their apartment late that night.

"Badly," Hitomi said as she dropped her keys, bag and shoes in the entry way. She came into the living room and threw herself into Merle's recliner. "I hate everyone," Hitomi said emotionlessly, even though that wasn't how she was feeling.

"Well, I warned you," Merle said, shrugging in her 'more-experienced-than-you' manner. She leaned forward and asked, "So, what's the verdict? Do you get Van, like you wanted?"

"I'm not sure that I frickin' want him anymore. Did I tell you that he got offered a job in London?"

"No," Merle gasped. "Bloody Hell! Is that what this is about? You were trying to get him to stay?"

"Not exactly. I was trying to get him to like me properly, but you were right about that, too. He's never going to like the whole package that is me and I don't know if Hitomi and Tomi can be separated. By now I'm just so messed up that I'm not sure if our relationship is worth the trouble anymore."

"It might not be," Merle conceded.

"I just thought that he was so intelligent, so good looking and so everything I ever wanted in a guy that I couldn't stand for him to only like me half way. What is it about stupid men that make them lose their minds over girls like you or Tomi?"

"I am NOT like Tomi," Merle cried, getting up and coming over to Hitomi. "I am not like you when I work as an escort."

"But you're the one who taught me to be like that!"

"Right, but that's because I knew that style would work for you. You come off like an innocent little girl who is discovering love for the first time, because Hitomi – that's what you are. In case you hadn't clued in, that's why you are such a good choice for your company's ad campaign. And that's why it works so well for Van to be your partner for it – because it's all real. Except that now you're discovering that love can be a bitch, too." Merle paused and took a deep breath. "And that is why I'm not like you. I already know that. I was all open and fresh like you once, too. I've been hurt too many times to look innocent now."

Hitomi frowned. What Merle was saying made a lot of sense. A lot more sense than she would have liked. But now she knew that she wouldn't be able to make a success of the job Dilandau offered her, even if she wanted to take it.

"All right," Hitomi admitted, putting a weary hand to her forehead. "What can I do to cope with this?"

Merle settled down a little dropped herself back down onto the couch. "I guess that all depends on how badly things went. Did you break up with him?"

"No."

"Did he break up with you?"

"No," Hitomi said, feeling a little better. At least things hadn't deteriorated that far.

Then Merle asked the crucial question, "Do you want to break up with him?"

Hitomi winced. Then she said miserably, "I probably should if he's just going to twist me around like this."

"So, hypothetically, say you decide to break up with him. What do you need to do?"

Hitomi thought about it for a second, but if she really was going to break up with him than the answer was pretty clear. "First, I need to swallow my feelings and make it through this last photo shoot."

"Correct," Merle said approvingly. "It really wouldn't look good on me, you, Van, Folken or Dryden if you ran squealing at this point. You would look worse than Allen – especially since this is your first time modelling."

"Then I need to quit my job working as Van's assistant," Hitomi continued.

"Are you sure you're okay with that?" Merle asked. "I mean, you worked so hard to get an honest job."

"Well, if I'm breaking up with him then it doesn't matter if he stays here or moves to London, but I can't keep working for him. I won't be able to work with him one more day."

"I guess if that's how you feel," Merle mumbled.

"Come on, Merle," Hitomi pleaded. "If you've been hurt, you have to know how important it is to get away from the person who has hurt you."

"I didn't disagree with you," Merle defended.

"Good," Hitomi said, breathing deeply. "Then I need to get on a bus and go visit my parents. Then I'll figure out what to do from there."

"What about the wrap up party?"

"What about it?"

"Don't you need to go?" Merle asked.

"Maybe," Hitomi considered. "But don't I just have to show up, order a drink, find a plant to pour it into, congratulate Dryden, and then head for the door?"

Merle bit her lip, "What if I'm not comfortable with that?"

Hitomi shook her head, "Why should you care?"

"During this whole thing, you have been Tomi when dealing with the crew and I don't want you to leave snivelling. You should have perfect PR during this whole thing not just because of Tomi, but because of Hitomi as well. Besides, I want to do a favour for you because you got me that job doing your makeup."

"What are you talking about?"

"It'll be your last night dressed up like Tomi, right?"

"I don't know," Hitomi said, fingering her false hair. "I spent so much money on these that it seems stupid to get rid of them."

"It'll be your last night with Van, then?"

"Yes," Hitomi choked. She hadn't said that she was going to break up with Van, quit her job, and run for the hills, but before she finished talking she knew that's what she was going to do.

"Then, let's do it with style."

"It'll have to be in my innocent style then, because I don't know if I can pull off your experienced one," Hitomi said, pinching her nose between her eyes.

"Escort style," Merle corrected.

Hitomi looked up. At once she knew what Merle was talking about. "Merle, you are an absolute angel."

* * *

The final photo session was to take place in Dryden's office at Capier Corporation. They dressed the room up like a woman's office. The general idea was that it was supposed to be Tomi's office and Van was coming to visit her. They did quite a few shots with him peeking around the door. Then they did some with her sitting on the desk with her cute cell phone. All the pictures included shots of the cute cell phone, but these ones didn't have Van in them at all – they were just her and the phone. Hitomi was starting to get quite attached to it. She was thinking of buying one when they came on sale.

These last shots were a lot easier for Hitomi. Maybe it was because she'd been doing this for the past two days or maybe it was because Van wasn't as intense as he'd been in the past. He made his face look the way Folken wanted, but other than that; he was pretty 'hands-off' about the whole thing.

When they were finished, the entire crew planned to go out to a club. Since clean-up took a couple hours, everyone wasn't ready to go until around eight. Hitomi and Van helped too, since there was so much work to do.

Right before they were set to leave, Merle plopped Hitomi into her makeup chair and did her makeup one last time.

"Don't think too much about what we're doing tonight," she advised as she applied Hitomi's blush. "Just have a good time."

"I'll try," Hitomi said, finally allowing herself to feel mournful. Nothing Van had said or done that day had convinced her that she was making the wrong decision. He was polite and courteous, but not remarkable. Lucky for him, he didn't look smug. If he had Hitomi would have looked forward to twisting the knife. Instead, he just looked indifferent. Hitomi could never tell how he was feeling anyway.

After Merle was finished, the two girls went and put on their clubbing gear. Merle wore a gold coloured top and black pants – she looked like a panther. Hitomi wore a grey-green top and a white shirt that had long slits up the sides. As she looked into the mirror in the bathroom, she thought she looked better tonight than she'd ever looked for a date before.

When she and Merle came out of the bathroom, Van was waiting for them.

"You look nice," he said, taking her arm and leading her towards the elevator.

Merle hung outside as the doors closed.

"Wait, Merle. Aren't you coming too?" Hitomi called.

"I'll catch a ride with Folken," she said and the doors closed.

Then she and Van were alone in the elevator as it went down. The air seemed too hot to Hitomi even though the building was air conditioned. She felt like she was going to suffocate and the seconds seemed to be ticking backwards. Would she ever get out this elevator?

"We need to talk," Van said at last.

"Okay," Hitomi said. Her voice was like a drop of water falling into a sea – it could barely be heard.

"Do you want to blow off this party and come over to my place?"

"You kill me," Hitomi said sarcastically.

"We need to talk and we can't do it there. It'll be too noisy."

"Now is that the Van I know talking? It doesn't seem like it. You see, the Van I know wouldn't skip out on a company event to be with his girlfriend. He wouldn't even turn away a second girl when he's already on a date. Both his wants and his lover's are completely unimportant compared to his professional obligations."

"Really?"

"Yup," she said, not sounding near chipper enough for the use of the word. "Besides, I can't ditch. I promised Merle that I would be there. She really wants to be a makeup artist and it'll make her look bad if I don't show up. I think she's planning on greasing some wheels tonight."

"Who would be there to grease?" Van asked incredulously.

"Folken and Dryden," Hitomi answered smoothly. "She's got to try her best, and I'm her cousin – I can't leave her in the lurch. I love her."

Just then the elevator opened and Hitomi and Van stepped out.

"We can talk in the car," Hitomi offered as she hurried ahead of him to the front doors of the building.

"You want to talk about London in the car?" Van asked, rushing after her.

"I'm not going to London. I haven't heard from Dilly since last night and if I do, I'll let him outright that I'm not going with him. I'd make a crappy model. My emotions are way too likely to get involved and I'd just get hurt over and over again. No thanks."

"What about me?" Van asked, grabbing both her shoulders and forcing her to face him.

"Oh yeah," Hitomi said, trying to act like she was forgetting the smallest of details. "I was going to tell you. I quit. I won't be coming into work on Monday, or Tuesday or ever again."

"Why?" Van said, seeking her eyes in the most sincere way.

"Because," she said, trying to match his sincerity. "We're breaking up."

"Because of London?"

"No," Hitomi said licking her lips. "Because I won't follow you there just to be your assistant."

"You already said that."

"And because," she continued. "It's impossible for me to be what you want."

"I'll tell you what I want."

"I'm not interested," she said, fighting off his hands and walking past him.

"What about what I don't want? Cause I don't want Tomi!" he yelled after her.

Hitomi stopped in her tracks and turned around, "What did you say?"

"I said I don't want Tomi," he breathed. "But you said that you wouldn't come to London with me as Hitomi."

She nodded. Now she remembered saying that.

"You didn't give me a choice," he continued. "You said that you would only come as Tomi. I'm a pig, but I wanted to have the job and you. I thought that if I offered you the same job as my assistant in London then you could come and we could date longer, because … I wasn't ready for more." He ran his hand through his hair and started pacing the empty atrium. His foot steps echoed on the floor. "And I didn't think you were, either. But then you said that I'd have to make a big sacrifice in order to even get Tomi. I thought that meant that you wanted me to ask you to marry me if you were going to come. And what the hell am I talking about – you two are the SAME PERSON."

Hitomi didn't know what to say. When she thought over their conversation the day before and it definitely seemed like that was what she was hinting towards. She coloured, because she wasn't sure that was what she meant.

"Anyway, I don't care," Van said noisily. "We never get any time alone together no matter how hard I chase you. There always appears to be someone waiting in the wings as soon as one of us has few minutes. Even as we speak, Merle and Folken are on their way down and so we won't be alone for longer than a minute." He paused and took a deep breath. Then he said rationally, "I just thought that if we moved to a city where neither of us knew anyone that we might have a chance to actually get to know each other. But that's impossible. I'll know Folken and apparently, you'll know Dilandau and he's going to be impossible to shake. And let's face it – wherever you go you are going to attract a string of admirers. And so now you're breaking up with me. Maybe that's well and good since I have no idea how to make you happy."

Everything he said surprised Hitomi. He made it sound like he really wanted to be with her.

"Van, we have such obvious problems," she said, trying to be sensible. "But let's deal with them one at a time. I have always felt that you cared more deeply for me when I was pretentious than when I was sincere. That bothers me a lot."

Van stopped pacing and faced her. "Are you trying to give yourself a multiple personality disorder? I mean really, both people are you. So, you don't want to be flirty and done up twenty-four-seven. Who could really blame you for that? But, when I first met you, you didn't seem fake."

Hitomi sighed, "That's because I really liked you."

Van perked up, like he was getting an idea. Then he said, "And on Valentine's Day when you flirted with Dilandau – you were flirty then, too."

Hitomi dropped her hands in surrender. "That's because you were there and I knew you wanted to be out with me instead of Celena, because you'd made a bid for me as well. So, I thought that I'd make you jealous if I hung all over Dilandau."

"So, if you act like that for those reasons, then what part of you is faking it?" he asked logically.

"But I …"  
Van interrupted, "You felt like flirting and you did. How is that pretentious? Just because you had the cover of being an escort, you didn't have to take responsibility for your actions. Did you tell yourself it was just for the job? Is that what caused all of this?"

"I don't know," Hitomi whined, frustrated. "I don't care. What I really want is for you to like me whether I decide to dress up to the nines or not, whether I decide to be all bouncy or if I want to be serious. I want to be able to climb out of the sewer and to have you still think I look fine."

"That's it?" he asked disbelievingly. "Done!" he exclaimed coming towards her and looking meaningfully into her eyes. "You are wonderful on your own. You're fun enough without the flare. Whether you're chucking your bra padding at me, or falling asleep with an open can of pop in your hand, or throwing underwear onto the highway – or whatever – whining, screaming, crying, sleeping – I want it all. Even when you're just sitting at your desk doing your paper work, you are wonderful. So, don't break up with me, Hitomi. I love you. Please give me a chance to work it out with you."

"You love me?" she gasped.

"Of course I do. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to say it," he said, pulling her hand to his heart. "I've loved you from the first – just stop driving me crazy and stay with me."

Hitomi felt like she was going to cry, but she kept on being sensible and asked quietly, "What about London? That's the next problem."

"Do you want to go?"

"No," she said, allowing her head to droop.

"Then, that's all you needed to say. I won't go either," he said, kissing the palm of her hand.

"But, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, isn't it?" Hitomi said, letting a tear slide down her cheek.

Van cupped her face in his palm. "So are you," he said gently. "So please stay with me."

"Okay Van. I'll stay," she said.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her adoringly. Her hands were still on his chest and she felt his heart thudding madly against his rib cage. And for the first time, something miraculous happened – she felt like he really did love her for who she was instead of for who she wasn't.

"Do you think we should try to sneak past them," a soft voice said at the other end of the atrium.

"No," a different male voice answered. "Let's wait until they're finished."

Hitomi thought Van heard that they weren't alone, but he just kept on kissing her and making the world around her swirl. Hitomi could hardly pay attention to what they were saying, but through her daze she could make out a little of their conversation.

"Well, if they made up then I should make some calls," Merle's gentle voice said.

"Why?"

"Well, I was going to have some of my escort buddies come and help Hitomi save a little face since she was supposed to be broken hearted tonight. You know – all my male escort buddies."

"You're a good friend," Folken said kindly.

"No, I'm blood. There's nothing like developing a little bit of a mob mentality when your family's pride is threatened."

"I certainly know what you mean," Folken chuckled. "But doesn't it look good to see them? When was the last time you were kissed like that, Merle?"

"I don't really remember. It might have been yesterday, but I'll tell you one thing, it didn't take roots like that."

"I'll keep that in mind," Folken said, right before Hitomi heard a gasp from the other end of the room.

She and Van looked up to see Folken kissing Merle. Her cell phone had fallen onto the marble tile.

"Maybe they should do the commercial," Van drawled before he kissed her again.

The End

* * *

Author's Notes: I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this story. Please review now, even if you read the whole thing and didn't review once. So, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed.

So, here are my deeper author's notes as a reflection of what I think of this piece. Frankly, I had no storyboards, no beta reader, and no flipping idea what I was doing most  
of the time. I was riding by the seat of my pants. Generally, I strongly disapprove of this method of writing, but you see I was sick and I wanted to write something, but I knew that whatever I wrote was not going to be magnificent because I don't write well when I'm sick for extended periods of time. (I'm better now everyone- thanks to everyone who wished that I would get better.) So, I wrote this piece for my own entertainment. I wish that I had story boards because they change mediocre writing into fabulous writing. I don't know if I'll write another Escaflowne piece after this. Everyone has been wonderful, encouraging me, but I really want to write original fiction, so please go read 'Ghost Mist' on fictionpress. That's the piece I'm really putting my heart and soul into.

Thank you very much!


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